The Jacka Foundation is delighted to announce new funding of six million dollars to NICM Health Research Institute for research into complementary and integrative medicine. The funding consists of $400,000 per year for 15 years and will commence in July 2019 when the current round of JFNT funding is completed.
Situated on the campus of Western Sydney University, NICM is adjacent to the Westmead health and medical precinct which includes four hospitals and a number of research institutes. NICM is housed in a four storey heritage building which is in the process of being completely renovated by the University to create a state of the art research, teaching and clinical institute.
NICM’s new home
The Jacka Foundation is gratified that a planned conference centre on the fourth floor of the building will be named The Jacka Foundation Conference Centre in recognition of the years of support from JFNT and the contribution Judy Jacka has made to education and naturopathic scholarship over her lifetime.
The Jacka Foundation Conference Centre will be a hub for information and education exchange, best practice and research in the field of complementary and integrative medicine. It will enable expansion of NICM’s reach to national and international audiences, including health professionals, researchers, academics, the media and consumers.
The JFNT funding will be applied to a range of research activities and will also establish the Jacka Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and The Jacka Foundation PhD Scholarship in Integrative Medicine. It is intended that the recipients will be naturopaths with research capabilities who will form part of The Jacka Foundation Senior Research Fellow team within NICM.
Waiting for the signing to begin in the newly renovated first floor of the NICM Institute
Front row L-R: Caroline Blackmore, Judy Jacka, Prof Barney Glover
Second row L-R Sandra Dillon and Terri Albert of the Jacka Foundation
Recent research publications on topics relevant to naturopathy include the benefits of exercise in mental health, nutrition and supplements, yoga, cannabis, mindfulness, natural pain relief methods in childbirth, and a range of qualitative studies in women’s health, mental health, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Judy Jacka and Prof Barney Glover, Vice-Chancellor of Western Sydney University, sign the Agreement
Under the leadership of Professor Alan Bensoussan, NICM’s research has been rated “well above world standard” by the government’s Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) program. NICM’s activities include clinical trials, collaborations with local and international experts and industry, policy work, and state of the art laboratory facilities for analysis of herbal and other products.
L-R: Prof Alan Bensoussan, Director of NICM; Marcus Blackmore, Exec Director Blackmores Ltd;
Judy Jacka, Vice-Chair Jacka Foundation; Prof Barney Glover, Vice-Chancellor Western Sydney University
The Jacka Foundation looks forward to our continuing collaboration with NICM in the service of developing Australia’s capacity for research in complementary and integrative medicine, and to supporting naturopathy in growing its community of researchers and scholars.
L-R: Marcus Blackmore, Sandra Dillon, Terri Albert, Dr Penny Caldicott, Dr Pauline McCabe,
Judy Jacka, Dr Carolyn Ee (Jacka Foundation Senior Research Fellow), and Prof Alan Bensoussan
For further information about NICM see: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/nicm/about_us/about_NICM