Professor Jon Emery awarded two grants

Department of General Practice team members Professor Jon Emery, Professor Jane Gunn, Dr Patty Chondros, Associate Professor Vicky Palmer and PhD Candidate Sibel Saya have been successful in their bid for funding a trial of pharmacogenomics for anti-depressant prescribing in general practice. The funding comes from the Medical Research Future Fund and is for $1.39 million over four years. The study will trial whether using a pharmacogenomic test to guide the decision around anti-depressant type and dose, results in better symptom management for patients with depression in general practice. Notably, this study addresses the significant knowledge gaps related to the use and barriers to clinical uptake of pharmacogenomic testing in patients with major depressive disorder in primary care. The study includes collaborators from The University of Sydney, Sonic Pathology, Deakin University, The University of Calgary, Monash University, and Translational Software.

Professor Jon Emery
Professor Jon Emery, Department of General Practice, Melbourne Medical School

Furthermore, Professor Emery has also had success with the highly competitive five-year NHMRC Investigator Grant. Professor Emery’s was one of 50 who received the grant across the University of Melbourne. With this grant, Professor Emery aims to identify causes of diagnostic delay and develop new diagnostic algorithms; test a diagnostic decision-support tool to recognise patients at increased risk of an undiagnosed cancer; and to evaluate the use of genomic tests in primary care to identify individuals at increased risk of cancer to tailor screening. This research directly maps onto new international priority areas in translational research for early detection of cancer. As for Australia, less than 50 per cent of bowel cancers are detected early, leading to poorer survival outcomes. This research has the potential to transform approaches to detect cancer earlier in primary care, to shorten diagnostic delay in Australia and improve these numbers.

  • Awards