HIV research centre comes of age

After 21 years of research into HIV treatment and prevention, the team at Darlinghurst’s National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR) threw themselves a birthday bash.

Monday night’s Darling Harbour party was graced by the likes of the Hon. Justice Michael Kirby, University of New South Wales (UNSW) vice-chancellor Professor Frederick Hilmer and NCHECR director Professor David Cooper.

Established by the Australian government in 1986 in response to the widespread outbreak of HIV/AIDS, NCHECR has become one of the leading HIV research bodies in Australia.

Professor Andrew Grulich from NCHECR said the centre coordinates most of the clinical trials for HIV research in Australia and is relied upon for its surveillance of the epidemic.

NCHECR has always ensured that Australia is at the forefront of national research of HIV, and that means people with HIV in Australia are among the best served in the world when it comes to getting access to drugs for HIV, he said.

But it is important to note that the National Centre doesn’t act on its own. We have a very large number of collaborators, without whom we could not function.

NCHECR, which is located on the St Vincent’s hospital campus, is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW and receives its core funding from the Department of Health and Ageing. Infrastructure funding is also provided by the NSW Office of Science and Medical Research. Other funding is obtained from national and international competitive research grants, as well as the pharmaceutical industry.

For more details log on to www.nchecr.unsw.edu.au.