We are thrilled to announce that NCARD has once again been successful in its application to the key Australian federal government funding body the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) as a Centre of Research Excellence (CRE). This continues the core supporting funding of our Centre for another five years, supporting some facilities and activities including training the next generation of scientists, biobanking, and laboratory support. Over this period, the NCARD CRE is moving to a new era of expanded collaborations and an outwardly looking vision.

With the benefit of this ongoing funding, the NCARD CRE will keep Australia at the forefront of asbestos diseases research, and will continue to train the next generation of clinician scientists and translational researchers. At the core of this is our stated NCARD purpose:

Leading innovation and discovery to improve the lives of people affected by asbestos related disease

The ten chief investigators include NCARD leaders and close collaborators from around the country. These scientists and clinicians are based at UWA, WA Health, Telethon Kids Institute, QIMR Berghofer in Queensland, and the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute in New South Wales. Their expertise is supported by ten associate investigators who extend engagement to the Harry Perkins Institute and Edith Cowan University in WA, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Victoria, University of Technology Sydney in NSW, and internationally to the University of Chicago (USA), Brock University (Canada) and University of Bristol (UK).

Thus the existing strengths of NCARD, including clinical trials, supportive care, tumour immunology, biomarkers and cancer biology, are joined with imaging, epidemiology, cancer genomics, pleural disease, computational biology and exercise physiology, among other research areas, to consider every aspect of asbestos disease research.

We have great hopes for the next five years, as well as resolve, purpose and energy.