The Australian e-Health Research Centre
A partnership between CSIRO and the Queensland Government, the Australian e-Health Research Centre is a leading national research facility applying information and communication technology to improving health services and clinical treatment for Australians.
CSIRO's joint venture in e-health research with the Queensland Government was established in 2003 as the e-Health Research Centre.
In 2008 the partnership was extended to 2012 and the centre renamed the Australian e-Health Research Centre (AEHRC).
Under the renewed contracts, the partners will contribute an additional A$20 million in cash, supplemented by in-kind contributions.
The Brisbane-based AEHRC combines CSIRO's capabilities in information and communication technology and health, with Queensland's extensive health research and clinical expertise.
In Brisbane, and at research nodes in other states, the AEHRC develops and deploys leading edge information and communication technology innovations in healthcare to:
- improve service delivery in the Queensland and Australian health systems
- generate commercialisation revenue
- increase the pool of world-class e-health expertise in Australia.
Specialist staff
The AEHRC's multi-disciplinary team includes internationally prominent researchers, software engineers and doctoral students, dedicated to serving the needs of patients, clinicians and health agencies.
The AEHRC researchers and engineers are experts in:
- database and data integration technology
- clustering and analysis of patient data
- electronic health records
- ontology (clinical terminology) engineering
- query and retrieval of complex data
- natural language processing
- biomedical image processing
- surgical simulation.
National approach
As its national research and development role expanded, the Centre established a research presence at:
- Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, South Australia
- Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria
- Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria
- University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
- Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia.
The AEHRC's projects benefit from close collaboration with hospitals and other healthcare research organisations
Examples of research projects
The AEHRC's disease management and clinical projects address cancer, dementia, heart disease, surgery, and emergency management.
Research on lung, prostate, breast and colorectal cancer is aimed at improving diagnosis and treatment planning.
The AEHRC's researchers are enhancing MRI and PET scan images to detect the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease.
Automated assessments of everyday movements by recovering heart disease patients are aimed at improving care after discharge from hospital.
By analysing physiological signals from patients under anaesthetics, the AEHRC seeks to improve surgical care and anaesthesia.
AEHRC scientists are studying procedures in hospital emergency departments using data integration and patient admissions modelling. Their goal is better prediction of the number of patients requiring admission.
More information is available from the Australian e-Health Research Centre website.
