About the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research

What is the Woolcock?

The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research is one of Australia's leading respiratory and sleep research organisations. Our aim is to foster, develop and promote research into the fields of respiratory and sleep medicine.

With a world-class network of specialised researchers, we deal with the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory disease and sleep disorders. In the words of Professor Jeffrey Drazen, Professor of Medicine, Harvard University and Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, the Woolcock is one of the top six such institutes world-wide.

Our history

The Institute was established in 1981 as the Institute of Respiratory Medicine and was officially opened in 1985 by the Deputy Premier and Minister for Health, the Hon R J Mulock, LLB . It was intended to facilitate the research activities of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 2002 its name was changed to the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in memory of its founding director, the late Professor Ann Woolcock AO (1937 - 2001), and also to encompass the broader scope of the Woolcock’s research activities.

In 2005, the Woolcock achieved an income of $6 million dollars from an inaugural operating budget of $73,000. We currently have over 50 research projects in progress.

Our mission

The Woolcock's mission is to improve the respiratory and sleep health of all Australians through:

• research
• education
• prevention
• care

Objectives

• To be a prestigious and identifiable network for research relating to the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory disease and sleep disorders
  
• To nurture a working relationship between research and clinical application, including research training and clinical training.
  
• To promote respiratory and sleep health in (but not restricted to) Australia by informing the community, teaching students and advising governments, practitioners, advocacy groups and industry about respiratory diseases, sleep disorders and research findings.
  
• To conduct all activities within an effective and efficient management framework
  
• To provide support-on-request to associated researchers during the early-stage of commercialisation of research outputs and related services
  
• To identify and initiate research in emerging fields of respiratory and sleep medicine, by commissioning pilot projects within the network and between network members and other partners

Our activities

In the initial years of its development, research activities within the Institute focused mainly on asthma and allergy. More recently the Woolcock has seen a considerable increase in the scope of its activity. It now has research groups in areas such as physiology, imaging, cell biology, molecular medicine, epidemiology, sleep and upper airway disorders, circadian rhythms and chronobiology, insomnia, restless legs, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, allergy, cystic fibrosis, smoking cessation and a clinical trials unit. The Woolcock also has engineering capabilities, utilising the latest technology in electronics, software, and analysis to make devices in support of research.

Where to find us

...We have moved > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

- from Monday 26th May you'll find us at 431 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe
- our new Reception phone number is 02 9114 0000

Street Address
431 Glebe Point Road,
Glebe, NSW 2037

Postal Address
PO Box M77
Missenden Road
Camperdown, NSW 2050

T 61 2 9114 0000
F 61 2 9114 0010
E admin@woolcock.org.au
www.woolcock.org.au

Download NEW Glebe new map here (valid from 26th May 2008)

Our affiliations

The Woolcock is a company limited by guarantee and has a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with The University of Sydney and Sydney South West Area Health Service with departmental status in both and is a member of the Sydney Institutes of Health and Medical Research. We have an MoU with The Hunter Medical Research Institute (Hunter Area Health Service and the University of Newcastle) and in addition to this, the Woolcock is associated with Liverpool, Concord and Royal North Shore Hospitals.

We are recognised as an independent research institute by the National Health and Medical Research Council, and are a member of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes and Research Australia.

The Woolcock is also a major partner in the Cooperative Research Centre for Asthma, which has been expanded and renewed for another seven years as the CRC for Asthma & Airways Diseases. We also established the Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and are the administering institution for the Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine and the Australian Sleep Trials Network.