In Case You Missed It: Here's what the MTPConnect team has been up to in August

05 September 2019

Pictured: MTPConnect Managing Director & CEO Dr Dan Grant and Director Stakeholder Engagement QLD Andrew Bowskill meeting with UQ Professors Damian Hine and Dr Lisette Pregelj in Brisbane.

Queensland Meetings

MTPConnect MD & CEO Dr Dan Grant and our new Director Stakeholder Engagement for Queensland Andrew Bowskill met with University of Queensland’s A/Prof Damian Hine and Dr Lisette Pregelj to discuss adaptive regulation for digital health.

WA Digital Health Accelerator Launch Event

MTPConnect Director Stakeholder Engagement for Western Australia, Dr Kate Brooks attended the launch of the WA Digital Health Accelerator at the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth. ANDHealth Managing Director Bronwyn Le Grice presented about ANDHealth and the role that digital health plays in Australia.

MedTech Conference

All of us at MTPConnect have had a busy month preparing for the Australian delegation to the MedTech Conference in Boston. Dan Grant will be leading the mission next month, joined by our General Manager Stakeholder Engagement Dr Alfredo Martinez-Coll and Director Stakeholder Engagement Dr Kate Brooks. Most importantly, we’ll have 30 delegates representing 26 companies, research institutes, universities and start-ups joining us in Massachusetts.

Biomedical Translation Bridge program

On the MRFF front, when applications closed for the first round of the Biomedical Translation Bridge program we had received 156 expressions of interest across both medical devices and pharma and covering a range of therapeutic areas. As we work with our program partners BioCurate, UniQuest, the Medical Device Partnering Program and the Bridge and BridgeTech programs to assess the applications, watch this space for future announcements of selected projects.

BioMedTech Horizons program

As for our other MRFF program, BioMedTech Horizons, review of the 95 EOIs we received is well advanced and projects selected for the next stage of full applications will be advised in the very near future.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Industry Workshop

Dan, Alfredo and Andrew attended the AMR Industry Workshop in Sydney. Organised by BioIntelect, this important workshop brought together representatives from AusBiotech, Medicines Australia, Pfizer, MSD, CSIRO, as well as SMEs in the MTP sector. Participants explored four main topics: translation/commercialisation, international partnerships and collaborations, regulations and regulatory incentives, and pricing and reimbursement. The discussions provided the basis for a broader consultation to be organised by MTPConnect to inform the new Australian national strategy on AMR due in November 2019.

CRC Association’s Collaboration for Industry Workshop

Alfredo presented at the CRC Association’s Collaboration for Industry Workshop at the University of Technology, Sydney. There were discussions on the principles of collaboration with a specific focus on CRC and CRC-P grants and Alfredo spoke about his experience with giving feedback on how an application will succeed and the role that MTPConnect plays.

ARCS Australia Conference

MTPConnect was the social media sponsor of the ARCS Australia Conference in Sydney, where we offered attendees to take a souvenir photo using #GetSocialatARCSAus to join the conversation. We also encourage you to listen to our podcast, where we interviewed ARCS Australia CEO Dr Shanny Dyer, MTAA CEO Ian Burgess, Anita van der Meer from NSW Office of Health & Medical Research and more.

Podcast - 3D Bioprinting in the Illawarra

The MTPConnect Podcast team visited the NSW Illawarra and the University of Wollongong this month. Our Communications Coordinator Shannan Osrin caught up with TRICEP Director Professor Gordon Wallace and Director Additive Fabrication Technologies Dr Stephen Beirne for a tour of the Bioprinting facility – make sure you take a listen to this episode, and the rest of the content from our ongoing podcast series including our chat with Dr Kath Giles from WA start-up OncoRes Medical.

Guest of the Chair Appointment

MTPConnect would like to congratulate Dr Parisa Glass, Deputy Director of the George Institute for Global Health, who’s been selected from an extremely strong field of candidates as our first Guest of the Chair. This unique MTPConnect initiative gives emerging leaders in the medtech, biotech or pharmaceutical sector the opportunity to experience a range of board-level activities. Dr Glass will be attending MTPConnect Board meetings over the next six months, engaging with our Chair, directors and senior management and gaining new perspectives on how boards operate.

Staffing Changes

During August we were excited to welcome two new members to our team: Dr Kate Brooks commenced work as our Director of Stakeholder Engagement for Western Australia and Andrew Bowskill joined in the role of Director of Stakeholder Engagement for Queensland.

On a sadder note, we will soon be bidding farewell to two of our longer serving staff members. Dr Alfredo Martinez-Coll, our GM Stakeholder Engagement and EA to Managing Director & CEO Sue Fisher will be pursuing new opportunities when their contracts conclude in October. From all of us, we would like to acknowledge the significant contributions Alfredo and Sue have made to MTPConnect and we wish them well in their future endeavours.