Photo: Prof Owen Roodenburg, Prof Jennie Ponsford AO, Cassie Citroen of TAC.
Professor Jennie Ponsford OA, Founding Director of the Monash Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre (MERRC), has received national recognition as the centre marks its 25-year anniversary.
Professor Ponsford was recently named Australia's leading researcher in rehabilitation therapy by The Australian, adding to an extensive list of awards and honours.
MERRC was established in 2000, shortly after Professor Ponsford - then an Epworth neuropsychologist - joined Monash University's School of Psychological Sciences. She became the centre's Founding Director, a role she continues to hold today.
Bringing together Monash University and Epworth HealthCare, with funding support from the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), the centre's research aims to reduce long-term disability after brain injury and trauma.
This collaboration between a leading university and a health service is transformative – and particularly unique in the private healthcare setting. By bridging the gap between research and clinical practice, Epworth patients gain access to evidence-based rehabilitation programs informed by decades of data, while clinicians are supported with the evidence for the care they provide.
Since inception, the centre has secured more than $45 million in research grants, published 550 papers, supported 62 PhD students and delivered 600 conference presentations.
MERRC continues to improve outcomes and quality of life for people after brain injury and trauma.
Professor Andrew Stripp, Epworth HealthCare Group Chief Executive, said: "MERRC continues to improve outcomes and quality of life for people after brain injury and trauma. What we can achieve through MERRC, under Professor Ponsford's leadership and with the support of the TAC, puts Victoria well ahead of the rest of the world. It is something to be proud of."
Professor Christina Mitchell AO, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, said MERRC had initiated new treatments, with an impact both nationally and internationally.
"The strength of this enduring relationship has benefited the Victorian and Australian communities because it has led to real world impacts," Prof Mitchell said.
Prof Ponsford was ahead of her time in the 1980s, when her hallmark program began following up Epworth patients who had sustained moderate to severe traumatic brain injury over a 30-year period. This longitudinal study captured a comprehensive picture of post-injury changes experienced over time by individuals and their families.
Today, with TAC funding support, the study has followed up more than 3,400 patients and remains an important MERRC project.
"I am proud of the fact that we've been able to follow up all these patients and identify what their long-term needs are, and then in turn create meaningful treatments that make a difference to them," Prof Ponsford said.
Epworth Group Chief Medical Officer, Professor Owen Roodenburg, said this unique stretch of continuous patient-centric research had provided an evidence base for best-practice brain injury rehabilitation.
"A lot of the evidence on how we manage traumatic brain injury at Epworth comes from this longitudinal work," Prof Roodenburg said.
As well as traumatic brain injury, MERRC has many other research streams including concussion, stroke and telehealth, translational neuroscience, translation and community engagement, multidisciplinary rehabilitation and general trauma.
Over 35 psychologists, and multi-disciplinary clinicians and researchers are employed by, or associated with, the centre.
With so much achieved in 25 years, Prof Ponsford said the focus remains on expanding treatments nationally and internationally.
"Celebrating this 25-year anniversary has been an opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved and look to the future," she said.
Learn more about the Monash Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre.
