This is an edited extract of a speech Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Cameron Dick delivered at QIMR Berghofer’s 70th Anniversary Dinner.
Few human endeavours have the potential to so dramatically reduce human suffering and to so greatly improve the quality of human life as scientific research, particularly medical research.
There is no question of the invaluable role scientific and medical innovation plays in our society, and the incredible opportunities that can be unlocked by those who harness that innovation.
Seventy years ago, on 12 September 1945, only 10 days after the harrowing events of the Second World War finally concluded, one of my predecessors, the then Labor Queensland Secretary for Health and Home Affairs, Thomas Foley MP, rose to his feet in the Queensland Parliament to introduce the ground-breaking Queensland Institute of Medical Research Bill.
In introducing the bill he said “… the bill is really the first shot in the new war, the war against disease in Queensland…”
The bill creating the Queensland Institute of Medical Research was derived from the recommendations of a report produced by a Queensland Department of Health employee, Dr Ted Derrick.
Dr Derrick had been tasked with exploring how best to approach the question of extending medical research.
His work resulted in a Bill that spoke tantalising of an institute that would be empowered to carry out research work into any branch of medical science.
QIMR Berghofer‘s Medical Research Institute’s reputation, and the research outcomes it has delivered over the past 70 years, speaks for itself.
Last month, QIMR Berghofer was ranked 7th in the world for innovation and industry impact by the Times Higher Education Company UK Index.
This ranking that puts QIMR Beghofer in illustrious company.
Nestled in those rankings are the likes of France’s Pasteur Institute and California’s Scripps Research Institute.
And just last week, Associate Professor Sarah Medland was awarded the Theodore Reich Young Investigators Award, the first time this honour has been awarded outside the United States or Europe.
When the QIMR Bill emerged all those years ago, then Toowoomba MP Jack Duggan said “I feel that if the government continues to make available sums of money to feed this growing institute, it will find a very honoured place in the community”.
As the Minister responsible for QIMR Berghofer, I am proud to say that the almost $19 million in funding that the Department of Health provides to the institute annually is money extraordinary well-spent.
In addition, our government’s $180 million Advance Queensland initiative is designed to work in conjunction with institutes like QIMR Berghofer to position Queensland as a leader in the knowledge economy in the 21st century.
In many ways, QIMR Berghofer stands as a glowing testament to what can be achieved when government, academia, the private sector and public philanthropy unite to tackle not just any ailment, but some of the most comprehensive and seemingly insurmountable health challenges facing Queensland, including cancer, infectious diseases, mental illness and other complex disorders.
All Queenslanders have an interest in ensuring that research in our state not only flourishes, but thrives above and beyond today’s realm of expectation to deliver for the Queensland of the future.
To again quote Jack Duggan seventy years ago “who knows that this little institute that we propose to establish in Queensland may not someday discover a formula or make a discovery that will assist mankind throughout the world”.
After 70 years of achievement, all Queenslanders should marvel at, and celebrate, an extraordinary and remarkable Queensland institution.
Cameron Dick is Queensland’s Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services.