Wilkins Family Foundation donation enables more comprehensive picture of brain health status following TBI and Stroke
On Thursday 13th February 2020, the NeuroSurgical Research Foundation (NRF) held a thank you ceremony, attended by Michael, Sandy and Kristen Wilkins of the Wilkins Family Foundation, University of Adelaide researchers and NRF representatives at the ComPath research facility at Gilles Plains.
NRF Executive Officer Ginta Orchard thanked the Wilkins Family Foundation for their generous donation which has enabled the purchase of three new pieces of vital medical research equipment for the University of Adelaide.
“I would like to thank the Wilkins Family Foundation for their generous donation - this project will contribute to improved patient outcomes for those people living with Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke,” she said.
Several years ago, Sandy and Michaels’ daughter Kristen received a brain tumour diagnosis and has since recovered and is doing well. It was this experience that prompted the family to want to give back and help others going through similar situations.
Since that time, the Wilkins Family Foundation has donated funds to purchase a variety of different life-saving neurosurgical equipment throughout South Australian hospitals. However, this is the first time they have donated to fund equipment purely for research.
Mr Wilkins said, “We have supported the NRF in the past to purchase equipment for the surgical teams to use in operating theatres, but research is also important, and we wanted to strike a balance between both so treatments and surgical outcomes can continually improve for patients.”
The research project will be led by NRF Director of NeuroSurgical Research - Associate Professor Renée Turner and Dr Frances Corrigan at the University of Adelaide.
Assoc Prof Turner said, “We are striving towards improved clinical translation for devastating Stroke and TBI through the development of new, more effective treatment strategies. The funding the Wilkins Family Foundation have provided has allowed us to purchase equipment, which is used in the clinical monitoring of patients, ensuring that our pre-clinical stroke and TBI studies are as clinically relevant as possible.”
She said the funding would allow the research team to measure brain oxygenation, intracranial pressure and temperature, as well as sample fluid directly from the brain in our experiments.
For more information on NRF current research please visit: https://www.nrf.com.au/current-research.
To donate to Stroke research please visit: https://www.nrf.com.au/stroke-research
To donate to TBI research please visit: https://www.nrf.com.au/traumatic-brain-and-spinal-cord-injury-research
