Published on the 27th February 2025 by ANSTO Staff
ANSTO will contribute to Indigenous research funded with a prestigious NHMRC grant announced this week.
Southern Cross University researcher Dr Alana Gall, who recently became an ANSTO research Fellow, has been awarded more than $640,000 to lead a research program focused on First Peoples' Cultural Medicines (also called bush medicine) in Australian healthcare.
“We look forward to supporting this pivotal project, which addresses investing in and elevating First Nations knowledge, an Australian research priority,” said Dr Karina Meredith, Director, Environment Research and Technology group, ANSTO.
The grant is part of the prestigious $422-million National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) Investigator Grants scheme, funded by the Federal government.
Dr Gall’s project spans two key areas. The first is embedding Cultural Medicines into Australian health policies to improve cultural safety, health and wellbeing. The second is to protect Cultural Medicine knowledge through research that informs research and development in drug discovery, and regulation and intellectual property legislation, to realise the self-determination of First Peoples and their communities.
“Despite initiatives, including Closing the Gap, disparities persist in health outcomes for First Nations peoples. We need to focus on community-driven solutions that align with First Peoples’ ways of knowing, being and doing,” said Dr Gall.
“This encompasses plant medicines, native foods, healing ceremonies, spiritual medicine, Traditional Healers, and both the tangible and intangible healing aspects of Country.”
With the boom in recent years of products based on native Australian plants and traditional knowledge, Cultural Medicines face the double dilemma of misleadingly being regulated as a food or appropriated for commercial profit with minimal or no benefits returned to the community.
“We need to make sure Cultural Medicines are appropriately regulated for the health and safety of all Australians and that First Nations Intellectual Property is protected from biopiracy,” said Dr Gall.
Dr Gall’s project has the backing of three major partners: the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health
Organisation (NACCHO), CSIRO, and ANSTO.
ANSTO environmental chemist Brett Rowling, a GuriNgai and Awabakal man, will collaborate with Dr Gall, a Truwulway woman, on parts of the research project.
