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DIRECTOR’S REPORTINSIDEFEATURES3 SIR ZELMAN COWENFELLOWSHIP FUND4 PHILANTHROPY IN ACTION6 NEW HORIZONS: OURLOW-COST CD4 TEST OUTON THE FRONTLINE8 SUPPORTING A HEALTHIERFUTURE IN MYANMAR10 REACHING OUT: WORKINGWITH MELBOURNE’S MOSTVULNERABLE12 iCRL: TAKING HIV TRAININGWHERE IT IS NEEDED MOST14 BURNET AT AIDS 201215 MAKING NEWSFRONT COVER IMAGE:This image depicts a motherand her child in Myanmar.Burnet Institute is anAustralian not-for-profit,unaligned and independentorganisation whose purposeis to improve the healthof disadvantaged, poor orotherwise vulnerable peoplethroughout the world.elcome to the summer edition of IMPACT, highlighting theincredible work undertaken by our talented scientific and publichealth staff at Burnet.Much has happened at the Institute and in the medical research andpublic health sectors over the past few months. Most importantly, a draftversion of the long-awaited McKeon Review into medical research wasreleased and welcomed as a powerful blueprint for the future of Australia’shealth and medical research sector. The Review focuses on the need tobetter target investment in the medical research sector to deliver improvedhealth and economic outcomes.The Review highlights the clear public benefits of a strong and globally competitive Australianmedical research sector and delivers a strong business case for continued and increasinginvestment in Australian medical research.Some of the key recommendations include a stronger connection between research andhealthcare, including; clinical practice being increasingly based on research evidence; increasinginvestment in research by two to three times over the next 10 years; and reform of the NationalHealth and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to streamline, empower and better resource it as thenation’s leading research body. From a Burnet perspective, it was wonderful to see specific referenceto the importance of research to improve the health of people living in developing countries.It is the first in-depth strategic review of the sector in 15 years and so it’s crucial that we get theresponse right. We, and the rest of the research community, look forward to renewed and ongoingbipartisan government support of the Review’s recommendations.In a major new initiative, we launched the Sir Zelman Cowen Fellowship Fund at ParliamentHouse in Canberra. The Fellowship Fund aims to raise funds to provide our young researcherswith fellowships to focus on bold new research programs to address major global health issues.We urgently need to undertake research to identify the best ways to tackle problems such as theincredibly high numbers of women and children who still die in childbirth, the increasing threat tosociety from drug-resistant tuberculosis and malaria, and to reduce the spread of HIV from motherto child. We would welcome your support of the Fellowship Fund and I would be happy to personallydiscuss this with you should you wish to contact me.I would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your support of the Institute andon behalf of all at Burnet, to wish you and your family a safe and happy festive season.Best wishes,Professor Brendan Crabb,Director and CEOAll donations over $2 are fully tax deductible. Where possible people who appear in images included in this newsletter werephotographed with their permission. There is no implication that these people have any infectious diseases. If you would liketo discuss any issue from this edition of the Burnet Institute’s newsletter, IMPACT, please call Paul Rathbone on 03 9282 2113.Photo Credits: Ben Coghlan, Brett Balalas, Gillian Chamberlain, Soe Lin Htut, Stephanie Luketic, Stanley Luchters, CatherineSomerville, ©IAS Steve Shapiro Commercialimage, Adam Johnson, PRIME Awards, Marcus Flack – Liquid Creations, Paul Ritchard.2 IMPACT Summer 2012