About Us:
Overview

Our Past

In the late 1980s, the Menzies Foundation supported the establishment of an epidemiology research centre at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, to be named the Menzies Centre for Population Health Research.

The Foundation provided annual funding to the Institute and was successful in obtaining matching funds from the Tasmanian Government. The Menzies Centre for Population Health Research was formed in 1988 and became the Menzies Research Institute in 2004.

From modest beginnings, the Menzies Research Institute quickly gained a reputation for its ground-breaking work into the link between babies’ sleeping position and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

The Institute developed into an established centre for population health research, with a global reputation in epidemiology. Some notable successes include:

• highlighting the importance of vitamin D in the development of bones in children and adults;
• evidence of the link between early life sun exposure and susceptibility to multiple sclerosis;
• discovering genes that cause disease; and
• showing the link between infant bedding and childhood asthma.

Today

At the Menzies Research Institute our aspiration is to contribute significantly to human health and wellbeing, with particular emphasis upon research that takes advantage of Tasmania's unique population resource and other competitive advantages.

Our research efforts focus on preventing a range of diseases including cancer, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease, osteoporosis, epilepsy and dementia.

We are undertaking nationwide studies, and collaborating with interstate and international researchers. The Institute’s work continues to extend throughout Australia and the western Pacific and southeast Asian regions, in particular Viet Nam.

The Future

Our plan for the future is one of expanded research programs and increased collaborative links throughout Australia and internationally to take advantage of new opportunities.