45 and Up: 240 findings to improve health and health services
Professor Ian Frazer will give the keiynote address at the 45 and Up Study Forum

The Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study* is Australia’s largest health study, which is following the health of more than a quarter of a million NSW men and women.

The annual 45 and Up Study Annual Forum New futures: innovative uses for Australia’s largest cohort study, in Sydney on Tuesday, 24 October, will celebrate the more than 240 research findings that have been generated through the study and focus on new innovations to improve health and health services.

The keynote speaker at the Annual Forum will be Professor Ian Frazer AC, chair of the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Advisory Board, who will outline the opportunities the MRFF will bring to support research across the country.

Professor Frazer said, “I expect that population based studies will continue to assist with good clinical practice and public health research”.

Scientific Director of the 45 and Up Study, Professor Emily Banks, will present at the meeting about the opportunities for innovative use of the cohort and the latest key findings from the Study.

“To support our community to have the best possible health in the future, we need to be making maximum use of advances in knowledge and technology. This new opportunity will invite 45 and Up Study participants to be a part of research at the forefront of our understanding of health,” Professor Banks said

The study is a major national research tool, used by both researchers and policy makers, to better understand how Australians are ageing, how they’re using health services, how to prevent and manage ill-health and disability and how this can guide decisions about our health system.

The next phase of the study involves the collection of up to 50,000 blood samples from study participants.

Integrating existing data from study participants with data from the analysis of blood samples will allow researchers to examine the relationship between biology, the environment and lifestyle on health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Samples collected will be stored in the soon-to-be opened NSW State Biobank for use by researchers.

A pilot study is currently underway to collect the first blood samples from a small number of 45 and Up Study participants to explore the most convenient approach to larger scale collection.

About the Sax Institute

The Sax Institute is an independent Australian leader in helping decision makers find and make best use of research to solve real-world health and social problems.

*About the 45 and Up Study

The Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study is providing Australia’s first, large-scale, comprehensive picture of health as people age and involves more than a quarter of a million people.

It is a major national research tool being used by both researchers and policy makers to better understand how Australians are ageing, how they are using health services, how to prevent and manage ill-health and disability and how this can guide decisions on our health system.

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