New Digital Health Research Centre for Flinders at Tonsley

On 11 July, Flinders University launched their new Flinders Digital Health Research Centre in a ceremony at Tonsley.

The Research Centre will be co-directed by two new Chairs of Digital Health — Professor Anthony Maeder and Professor Trish Williams — and will focus on uniting health and information technology. It is supported by the Premier’s Research and Industry Fund, provided by the South Australian Government and Cisco Systems Australia under the Cisco Digital Health Initiative.

The Centre will initially focus efforts on digital health projects that enable smart living, leveraging new ICT technologies to enable new health services and realise new models of care delivery.

Spanning across two faculties — Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, and Science & Engineering — and working closely with Flinders University’s already established Medical Device Research Institute, the new Research Centre will be a driver for new digital health developments.

Flinders University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robert Saint said the Centre will provide expertise, innovation and leadership to ensure that Flinders University achieves national and international recognition as a premier institution for Digital Health Systems and Technologies research.

“As part of Tonsley’s emerging health-tech precinct, it is perfectly placed to drive health innovation.”

“Tonsley provides an ideal combination of academic and training institutions, a mix of established global companies and start-ups and carefully curated research and industry networks that provides a strong collaborative and innovative environment”, said Professor Williams.

The launch saw an opening address by Mr Stephen Gerlach AM, Chancellor of Flinders University, followed by a speech by Ms Katrine Hildyard MP who represented Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia, and an address by Mr Reg Johnson, General Manager Education for Cisco Systems Australia.