Guest Article A MS J Australian Medical Student Journal68

Surely we don’t need any more research? Surely we know what to do to improve Aboriginal health? Surely we know the best environments for healthy child development? In this article I provide a rationale for Aboriginal child health research, give a history of my own personal journey in Aboriginal child health from the 1970s to 2011, give examples of our research and its application to improve outcomes and how we have provided the environment to build the careers of Aboriginal researchers; and finally, end with several recommendations. The aims of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR) are fourfold: 1. To conduct high quality research; 2. To apply research findings (not only our own) to improve the health and well being of children, adolescents and families; 3. To teach the next generation of health researchers; and 4. To be an advocate for children, for research and for social justice. We do all this by working in groups across themes of major childhood diseases and problems, including all areas from genes and cells, to children and families, to population-wide influences. Hence we have basic, clinical and population sciences all working together to investigate causal pathways, discover better treatments and to apply new knowledge wherever we can. We provide an enhancing research environment with excellent research support – including access to data, data management and analysis, bioinformatics, consumer and community participation and encourage a culture of communication both internally and to the external world (for example, media training). National and international collaborations are essential for any research, particularly in Australia where we have small sample sizes and are a long way from conferences and other research environments. Perth is said to be isolated, but every day in our Institute people are working with other researchers from many different countries and parts o