Gandel Philanthropy-Snowdome Innovation Fellowship

The Hon. Jill Hennessy MP, Minister for Health (VIC), officially announced the Gandel Philanthropy-Snowdome Foundation Innovation Fellowship today (Wednesday 24 August, 2016) at the world-renowned Walter & Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI).

Research into new therapies for patients with hard-to-treat lymphomas will be undertaken by the WEHI’s Dr Mary Ann Anderson with the support of the Fellowship over three years.

Some varieties of lymphoma have proven resistant to treatment with available therapies like chemotherapy and are currently incurable. This means that developing new therapies that work differently to chemotherapy is a high priority for researchers. This research will hopefully make hard-to-treat lymphomas treatable chronic diseases.

While thanking the Minister for her time to make the announcement, John Gandel AO said “While we fund many causes and initiatives through Gandel Philanthropy, one of the key areas we always pay particular attention to is medical research. There is no doubt that Australia is renowned around the world for its innovative and ground-breaking research,” he said.

This announcement follows yesterday’s news about the WEHI’s contribution to the trialling of the new drug Venetoclax (“Australian protein discovery leads to tablet that “melts away blood cancer”) which has just been granted approval by the US Food & Drug Administration. (See also ‘The Project’ {Network TEN} story that aired yesterday evening. NB: Snowdome is the only organisation in Australia focussed on ‘fast tracking’ new treatments to patients.)

“We have many exceptional research institutes and facilities, such as this facility where we are today, but we should not sit on our laurels,” John continued. “This reputation and this strength of the research field can only be maintained if we continue investing, not only in our established researchers but also the younger, up and coming talent – and I believe Mary Ann fits the description perfectly!”

Professor Miles Prince, Snowdome co-founder, added “Our Foundation’s mission is to fund the acceleration of new cutting edge treatments to give patients hope where they can’t normally find it. That’s our difference. So we thank Gandel Philanthropy enormously for partnering with us to allow Dr Anderson to pursue her ground-breaking research and ‘make hope real’ for Australians suffering from hard-to-treat lymphomas.”

Further information regarding the Gandel Philanthropy-Snowdome Foundation Innovation Fellowship and Dr Anderson’s work can be found in this WEHI media release final.

#springst @JillHennessyMP @WEHI_research

{Pictured in main photo: Prof Doug Hilton AO (Director, WEHI), Helen Gandel, John Gandel AO, Dr Mary Ann Anderson, Prof Miles Prince (co-founder Snowdome Foundation), the Hon, Jill Hennessy MP and Tony Gandel}