Researcher to join major international study

22 November 2006

Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC)

New Zealand health researcher to join major international cancer study

Research into prostate cancer will be given a boost through an international collaboration with a New Zealand health researcher and Oxford University.

Dr Francesca Crowe, currently at the University of Otago, is the latest recipient of the Girdlers' New Zealand HRC Fellowship awarded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC). This Fellowship will allow her to gain two years' advanced research experience under the support of Green College at Oxford University.

Dr Crowe will work on the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), the largest and most ambitious study to date to investigate the association between diet and cancer. She will be investigating the association between dietary fat intake and the risk of prostate cancer in the entire cohort of men in the study.

This research will be of great benefit to the health sciences in New Zealand; particularly as prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect men in New Zealand and many other countries worldwide.

The HRC has awarded its Foxley Fellowship for 2006 to Louise Delany who will be working at the University of Otago's Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The Foxley Fellowship is a prestigious award which enables an individual working in the health sector to undertake a one year research sabbatical within an academic institution.

Ms Delany will be researching public health law in New Zealand. There are no comprehensive papers or publications on public health law in New Zealand, and her research will work towards addressing this gap.

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A full list of HRC Career Development Award recipients follows:

Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship
Dr Christopher Hann, University of Canterbury, Model-based cardiac diagnosis and therapy in critical care, 48 months, $500,000
Dr Chris Pemberton, University of Otago, BNP signal peptide: a novel, specific marker of acute cardiac injury, 48 months, $500,000
Dr Yiwen Zheng, University of Otago, Searching for answers to cognitive deficits following vestibular damage, 48 months, $500,000

Foxley Fellowship
Ms Louise Delany, University of Otago, Public Health Law in New Zealand, 12 months, $80,000

Girdlers' New Zealand HRC Fellowship
Dr Francesca Crowe, Oxford University, Fat and prostate cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, 24 months, $220,000

ACC Career Development Awards - Postdoctoral Fellowship
Miss Rebbecca Lilley, University of Otago, Determinants of occupational injury and ill-health, 24 months, $264,531

Clinical Research Training Fellowship Awards
Dr James Ussher, University of Auckland, Experimental strategies for ex-vivo immunotherapy of chronic hepatitis B infection, 36 months, $217,593

Dr Juliet Rumball-Smith, University of Otago, Quality of public hospital care for Maori and NZ Europeans in Christchurch, NZ, 48 months, $250,000

Dr Kamran Shoshtari, University of Auckland, Preoperative steroids and their effect on postoperative recovery in major colonic surgery, 12 months, $78,224

Dr Kyle Perrin, University of Canterbury, The effect of oxygen therapy on clinical outcomes in acute asthma and pneumonia, 36 months, $235,101

Dr Stephen Ritchie, University of Auckland, The role of staphlococcal superantigen-like proteins in bacteraemia, 36 months, $247,338

Ms Erana Cooper, University of Auckland, A best practice package: Early intervention for whanau violence, 36 months, $229,575
Dr Benjamin Loveday, University of Auckland, The role of lymphatics in severe pancreatitis: anatomy, physiology and therapy, 36 months, $237,884

Dr Claire Heppenstall, University of Otago, Maintaining independence: predicting and preventing residential home care, 36 months, $235,113

ENDS

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