Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI)

Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Everyday, we're taking healthy further. Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) exists to transform the health and wellbeing of our communities.

As the largest regional medical research institute in Australia, since 1998 our groundbreaking work has changed the lives of so many. We could never have done it alone. HMRI has been about collaboration from day one, when a group of world-class researchers, health professionals and community leaders created an organisation to make a positive impact on peoples’ lives. The unique partnership with ou

r local health district, university and community, has enabled us to punch above our weight and work together in agile ways to tackle the biggest health issues of our time. We remain focused on innovation and medical research that’s relevant to everyday life. Our world leading experts collaborate across multi-disciplinary teams with one goal: to help our community be healthier and live their best lives. We’re working in the lab and beyond. We’re thinking long term. We’re always listening and learning from our community to help us shape our research priorities, so we can make sure we’re providing impact where it’s needed most. At HMRI, every day we’re taking healthy further.

For many people living with asthma, breathlessness is a daily reality, even when they're taking their medication and the...
04/09/2026

For many people living with asthma, breathlessness is a daily reality, even when they're taking their medication and their condition is well managed.

A previous study from HMRI's Breathing and Lung Health researchers found that 51 per cent of people with mild to moderate asthma and 49 per cent of those with severe asthma experience physically limiting breathlessness, despite treatment.

Its impact extends well beyond physical limitation into emotions, relationships, identity, work and participation. This Asthma Week, we're highlighting research that could help people better manage this often-overlooked symptom.

Professor Vanessa McDonald, Dr Hayley Lewthwaite and their team from The University of Newcastle, Australia and HMRI's Breathing and Lung Health Research Program are exploring a new approach through the BRAID Study.

The study pairs an in-person nurse-led self-management session with ongoing digital support through a personalised app, including expert-led videos on breathing exercises and positions that can ease breathlessness.

The big picture is to help people breathe better to live the life they wish for.
Learn more and get involved: https://okt.to/QYHlSm

Congratulations to Professor Kelvin Kong AM on securing $3 million in NHMRC funding to establish the Centre of Research ...
04/09/2026

Congratulations to Professor Kelvin Kong AM on securing $3 million in NHMRC funding to establish the Centre of Research Excellence for Healthy Muku for Kids

Led by Indigenous researchers and coordinated by the University of Newcastle, the national centre brings together clinicians and experts from more than 12 institutions to tackle otitis media (ear infection) and hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, who experience the condition at twice the rate of non-Indigenous kids.

The Centre will work to better understand ear disease, develop community-designed approaches to prevention and treatment, and build models of care that can be scaled nationally.

Professor Kong, a proud Worimi man and Australia's first Indigenous ear, nose and throat specialist, said the impacts of untreated ear disease go well beyond hearing loss, shaping a child's learning, development and life outcomes for years to come.

Congratulations also to co-researcher Dr Guy Cameron, a proud Wailwan man from HMRI's Immune Health program, on this incredible achievement.

Learn more: https://okt.to/T6kn07

03/09/2026

One in three women with breast cancer will develop a resistance to treatment. It's a statistic that changed Sarah's life at just 22.

Diagnosed with stage 4 HER2-positive breast cancer while working in hospitality and raising a one-year-old, Sarah now lives with cancer that has spread to her spine and can't be removed.

At HMRI, researchers like Professor Nikki Verrills are working to understand why some breast cancers stop responding to treatment, and how to give women more effective options when they do.

As Sarah says, women's health research is the cornerstone of our community. It's our mums, our aunts, our sisters, our best friends.

This Medical Research Giving Day, help HMRI raise $100,000 for women's health research right here in Hunter New England. Every dollar stays local and goes towards giving women like Sarah more time.

Donate: https://okt.to/BEnIW2

03/09/2026

What if preventing asthma in the next generation started with how we care for women during pregnancy?

Professor Vanessa Murphy from HMRI and is researching what really drives asthma in pregnancy, beyond the lungs, looking at anxiety, diet and activity levels. If attacks can be prevented, asthma itself may be preventable in the children born after them.

Women's health has been under-researched and underfunded for far too long, leaving too many women without the answers and treatments they deserve.

This Wednesday 9 September, HMRI is taking part in Australia's first Medical Research Giving Day, raising $100,000 for women's health research.

Donate and help change the future of women's health: https://okt.to/TW4deK

What 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 happens when a pandemic hits?HMRI's Infection Research Program is screening Contagion at Tower Cinemas - New...
02/09/2026

What 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 happens when a pandemic hits?

HMRI's Infection Research Program is screening Contagion at Tower Cinemas - Newcastle followed by a live Q&A with some of Australia's top infectious disease experts, breaking down what the film got right, what it got spectacularly wrong, and how HMRI is prepping for the next one.

Expect popcorn, plot holes and a few uncomfortably accurate predictions.

📅 Friday 18 September
🕕 6pm to 9pm
📍 Tower Cinemas
🎟️ $10

Book your seats: https://okt.to/kFMSxa

02/09/2026

The Newcastle Permanent Innovators Program keeps proving what's possible when great ideas get real support.

Congratulations again to Dr Geshani Jayasuriya and Dr Heather Murray, our Newcastle Permanent Innovator Fellowship recipients, and to the whole cohort who pushed their projects further this year.

Dr Jayasuriya is developing safer, radiation free lung scans to monitor airway disease in kids and adults, while Dr Murray is working to match cancer treatments more precisely to individual patients.

Both are proof of what happens when researchers get the time, mentoring and backing to take an idea further, exactly what this partnership with Newcastle Permanent is built on.

We're proud of everyone who took part in this year's program, and grateful to Newcastle Permanent for a partnership that keeps making this kind of impact possible.

01/09/2026

Only around 10% of teenage girls meet physical activity guidelines, and the decline starts as young as age seven.
Women's health doesn't begin in adulthood, it starts with girls, and the research behind it has been underfunded for far too long.

Associate Professor Nicole Nathan from HMRI and The University of Newcastle, Australia is working with schools across the region to find simple, scalable ways to change that, before those patterns carry into adulthood and contribute to chronic disease.

Next Wednesday 9 September is Medical Research Giving Day, and HMRI is aiming to raise $100,000 for women's health research in the Hunter New England region.

Donate, or bring your workplace, team or friends together to host a Purple Morning Tea. Every dollar stays local and goes straight to research like this.

Donate: https://okt.to/G72bNL
Host a Purple Morning Tea: https://okt.to/awSFLN

01/09/2026

Women's health has long been under-researched and underfunded, leaving too many women without the answers, treatments and care they need. HMRI is working to change that, and you can help.

The countdown is on to Medical Research Giving Day on Wednesday 9 September, and we're aiming to raise $100,000 for women's health research.

You can be a part of changing the future of women's health by donating, or brining your workplace, team or friends together to host a Purple Morning Tea.

Every dollar donated stays local, helping our researchers tackle the health challenges affecting women in our region.

Donate: https://okt.to/Q45rai
Host a Purple Morning Tea: https://okt.to/JIRba4

30/08/2026

In Australia, women are twice as likely to be hospitalised for asthma than men, and twice as likely to die from it.

We spoke to researcher Dr Hayley Scott from The University of Newcastle, Australia and HMRI's Immune Health Research Program about why asthma hits women so much harder.

It's the kind of question that's easy to overlook when women's health research isn't properly funded.

This Medical Research Giving Day on 9 September, help us raise $100,000 for women's health research right here in the Hunter New England. Every dollar stays local and helps researchers like Dr Scott find better answers for women.

Get involved: https://okt.to/ZEzopS

Be a hero for women's health 👩‍🔬On Wednesday 9 September HMRI is joining more than 30 medical research institutes across...
27/08/2026

Be a hero for women's health 👩‍🔬

On Wednesday 9 September HMRI is joining more than 30 medical research institutes across Australia for Medical Research Giving Day, raising funds for women's health research right here in the Hunter New England region.

From dementia and heart disease to fertility, menopause and mental health, we're working to get women better answers and better outcomes.

Donate or host a Purple Morning Tea with your workplace or community and help us reach our $100,000 goal.

Get involved: https://okt.to/GaC2jP

Address

1 Kookaburra Cct
New Lambton, NSW
2305

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+611300993822

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