The Research Centre for Healthy Lungs focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular processes that are associated with the development and progression of respiratory diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

These are the two major chronic respiratory diseases in Australia, with the incidence of asthma among the highest in the world, and COPD a major cause of death. These disorders are a significant health and economic burden to the community, and are national research priority areas and diseases of global significance. The Centre aims to develop advanced models for diagnosis and treatment of such disorders.

The Centre acts as a national training centre for clinician scientists, postdoctoral fellows, PhD scholars and undergraduates in respiratory medicine and continues to actively contribute to the development of health policy.

Key achievements

  • The Australian Government is expected to save millions of dollars annually due to changes in the prescribing of inhaled corticosteroids based on a review by researchers within the Centre.

  • Researchers led the consortium that developed the National Service Improvement Framework for Asthma. This document sets out the service characteristics and changes needed to the Australian health care system in order to optimally manage asthma in Australia over the next five years.