To mark the final day of Women’s Health Week, the Women and Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) announced $260,000 in funding to support research projects aimed at improving the health of women, babies, and families.
The funding, awarded through WIRF’s Research Acceleration Awards and the Tony McCartney Gynaecologic Oncology Special Grant, will support five innovative projects spanning ovarian cancer, chemotherapy-related side effects, childbirth trauma, rare diseases, and neonatal health.
The Tony McCartney Gynaecologic Oncology Special Grant, valued at $100,000, was awarded to Dr Yu Yu – a senior research fellow at Curtin University – for her project Developing a New Treatment for Chemotherapy Resistant Ovarian Cancer Using Bispecific SLIT-ROBO Antibody.
Ovarian cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers affecting women, with high-grade serous carcinoma often relapsing after initial treatment. Dr Yu Yu’s team has identified a little-studied cell signalling pathway, known as SLIT-ROBO, that may enable cancer cells to survive chemotherapy. By testing a new bispecific antibody treatment in patient-derived tumour models that targets the SLITs or ROBO proteins, this research aims to overcome chemoresistance and offer new hope for women whose cancers no longer respond to standard treatment.
A Tony McCartney Gynaecologic Oncology Special Seed Grant, valued at $25,000, was awarded to Natalie Williams – a nurse researcher in gynaecology at King Edward Memorial Hospital – for her project The CIPNEX Study: A Hand-Foot Exercise Intervention for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Gynaecologic Oncology.
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy affects up to 70% of women undergoing treatment for ovarian and other gynaecological cancers, leading to pain, numbness, falls, and reduced quality of life. With no effective medical treatments available, this project will co-design, test, and evaluate a sustainable hand-foot exercise program. The end goal is to provide women with practical self-management tools to reduce symptom severity and improve daily functioning.
Three WIRF Research Acceleration Awards, each valued at $45,000, were presented to Dr Bradley MacDonald,Dr Kelli MacMillan and Dr Gayatri Jape.
Dr Bradley MacDonald – a paediatrician and clinical trial lead at the Clinical Centre of Expertise for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases, Perth Children’s Hospital – was awarded funding for his project Developing an Adaptive Rare Diseases Platform Trial (ARDaPT) for therapeutic trial access.
This project aims to improve clinical trial access for the 63,000 children in WA living with rare diseases by establishing scalable, regulatory-approved infrastructure for faster and more equitable treatment options.
Dr Kelli MacMillan – a clinical psychologist at King Edward Memorial Hospital and senior lecturer at Murdoch University – was awarded funding for her project Screening for childbirth related post-traumatic stress disorder at an Australian women’s tertiary hospital.
This first-of-its-kind Australian study aims to improve perinatal service delivery, maternal mental health, and infant outcomes.
Dr Gayatri Jape – a neonatal paediatrician at King Edward Memorial Hospital – was awarded funding for her project Implementation of a clinical risk score (Check-NEC score) for predicting the risk of NEC in preterm infants.
Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating bowel disease affecting premature babies with high rates of mortality and long-term complications. This project will evaluate a predictive clinical tool to enable earlier intervention and better outcomes for vulnerable newborns.
WIRF Chief Scientist Professor Matt Kemp said the funding reflects WIRF’s commitment to tackling pressing health challenges affecting women, babies and families through world-class research.
“We congratulate each of our award recipients on their outstanding projects,” Professor Kemp said.
“These projects are addressing some of the most urgent and under-recognised challenges in women’s and family health – from ovarian cancer relapse, to the long-term impacts of chemotherapy, to childbirth trauma, neonatal disease, and the devastating inequities facing families affected by rare diseases.
“By investing in these researchers, we are investing in better futures for women, babies and families.”
The Research Acceleration Awards, now in their third year, have been made possible with the generous support of the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation and the Bass Family Foundation. In 2026, this partnership will enable WIRF to award $500,000 in research grants to advance local research into the health of women, babies, and families.
The Tony McCartney Gynaecologic Oncology Special Grant is named in honour of Dr Tony McCartney, who was WA’s first gynaecological cancer specialist and invented a device known as the McCartney tube, which simplified keyhole hysterectomies.
The awards were presented at WIRF’s premier scientific event, the WIRF Scientific Dialogue on 5 September 2025. Read about the WIRF Scientific Dialogue here
Pictured left to right are: Dr Gayatri Jape, Dr Kelli MacMillan, Natalie Williams, Dr Bradley MacDonald and Dr Yu Yu.
