Neurological Foundation Awards Over $1,020,000 in December 2010 Grant Round: Recipients Announced
The Neurological Foundation of New Zealand has today announced research grants, travel grants, fellowships and
scholarships totalling more than $1,020,000 for its December 2010 funding round. This allocation brings the Foundation’s
total neurological research and training funding for 2010 to over $2,000,000.
In this round, the Foundation awarded four project grants, two Miller PhD Scholarships, one Philip Wrightson
Postdoctoral Fellowship, a one-year extension to the 2008 Philip Wrightson Fellowship recipient, one travel grant and
two small project grants.
Executive Director Max Ritchie says “The calibre of applications was incredibly high - a sure reflection of the
world-class neuroscience research being undertaken at universities and hospitals across the country. We’re thrilled to
be able to fund crucial research at this level. Equally pleasing is the record number of young investigators applying
for fellowship and scholarship grants in this round. The Foundation has supported career neuroscientists for nearly 40
years, so it is vital that we continue to nurture the talents of emerging scientists who have a passion for
neuroscience.”
The first and largest incidence and outcome study of transient ischemic attack (TIA) in New Zealand is one of the four
successful project grants. Neurological Foundation Chair of Clinical Neurology Professor Alan Barber will lead the
study, which has great potential to play a central role in the planning of services and development of health policy in
relation to TIA and stroke, both in New Zealand and internationally, and could be used to inform evidence-based
recommendations for health care. TIA heralds the onset of stroke in a quarter of the 8,000 New Zealanders struck down
with this devastating illness every year.
Jessie Jacobsen, nearing the completion of her two-year Philip Wrightson Fellowship awarded by the Neurological
Foundation in 2008, has been granted a one-year extension to enable her to continue her research into Huntington’s
disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the United States. Dr Jacobsen received the
MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Award in 2007 for her research into Huntington’s disease, and the University of
Auckland’s Young Alumna of the Year 2010, and has been working in the laboratory of noted scientist Professor Marcy
MacDonald at Harvard’s Centre for Human Genetic Research.
Mr Ritchie says still more investment needs to be made in neuroscience in this country. “In many areas of neurological
research, including the exciting translation into clinical practice, New Zealand scientists are leading the way. There
is an urgent need to maintain this level of research and a diminishing number of funding avenues for scientists. The
Neurological Foundation will continue to promote and support neurological research at the highest level, and our
objective for 2011 is to further increase our funding allocations so even more deserving research can be undertaken.”
The Neurological Foundation is the primary non-government sponsor of neurological research in this country. The
Foundation is an independent body and charitable trust and its funding has facilitated many of New Zealand’s top
neuroscientists’ pioneering breakthroughs. Without the ongoing support of individual New Zealanders the Foundation could
not commit to progressing research to the high level that it does. Ninetyeight per cent of funding comes from donations
and bequests.
ENDS