The Hunter Children’s Research Foundation (HCRF) raises funds for important research into children’s terminal and debilitating illnesses. Formed in 1996, the Foundation is authorised to fundraise by HMRI and is also affiliated with HNEkidshealth – Children, Young People and Families.

Money raised by HCRF stays in the Hunter to fund children’s research projects in areas like asthma, cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and sleep disorders – illnesses that can affect any family at any time. Over $2.4 million in funds has been raised to date.

HCRF provides funds for essential research equipment, to employ research support staff and fund research grants for new and ongoing research. It is overseen by an independent committee, the Children Young People & Families Research Executive, who guides the assessment and allocation of funding for children’s research, in collaboration with HMRI.

The ReaCH 200 is a group of local businesses and individuals who to contribute to children’s research through HCRF. HCRF also holds its own fundraising events, and receives proceeds from various charity functions, raffles and sponsorships.

In 2011, retired paediatrician (turned artist) Dr Cliff Hosking was announced as Patron of HCRF. In 2015, Michael and Sue Hagan and Matt Hall were announced as HCRF Ambassadors to help spread the word and why it is so important to support children’s medical research.

Download Biennial Research Report 2017 & 2018 from the Children, Young People and Families Research Executive

Support or connect with the Hunter Children’s Research Foundation:

Funded Research

2022

The IMPACT study: The Intergenerational effects of Maternal Physical Activity on Child Development
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Sarah Valkenborghs

Description:

Dr Sarah Valkenborghs from the HMRI Active Living Research Program has received a grant to fund her study in child neurodevelopment, investigating if physical activity while pregnant is beneficial for child neurodevelopment after birth. 

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Does healthy immune development during pregnancy set babies up for healthy respiratory viral responses
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Adam Collison

Description:

Dr Adam Collison from the HMRI Asthma and Breathing Research Program received a grant for his study into bronchiolitis, a severe viral infection that is the leading cause of babies under 12 months being admitted to the John Hunter Children’s Hospital.

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Investigating the role of iron status and supplementation during pregnancy on respiratory disease in children
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Henry Gomez

Description:

Dr Henry Gomez won a grant to investigate the role of iron status and supplementation during pregnancy on respiratory disease in children.

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Improving early detection of childhood neurodevelopmental differences using mid-pregnancy biomarkers and infant behaviours
Project Grant
Researchers:

Associate Professor Vanessa Murphy

Description:

Associate Professor Vanessa Murphy received a grant to fund her project focusing on better early detection of childhood neurodevelopmental differences using mid-pregnancy biomarkers and infant behaviours

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2021

Lung function and respiratory health at 6 weeks of age in a cohort of children born to non-asthmatic mothers
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Carla Da Silva Sena

Description:

Lung function and respiratory health at 6 weeks of age in a cohort of children born to non-asthmatic mothers

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The POKES study: Practice Observations and Knock-on Effect of Skin breaks in preterm infants
Project Grant
Researchers:

Associate Professor Koert de Waal

Description:

The POKES study: Practice Observations and Knock-on Effect of Skin breaks in preterm infants

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Neurofeedback treatment to improve complex post-traumatic stress disorder
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Beth Mah

Description:

Neurofeedback treatment to improve complex post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in Out of Home Care

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2020

How do fruit and vegetables improve lung function in childhood asthma?
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Bronwyn Berthon

Description:

How do fruit and vegetables improve lung function in childhood asthma?

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2019

Identifying the food trigger for Eosinophilic Oesophagitis
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

Eosinophilic Oesophagitis in childhood is associated with chronic heartburn, nausea, vomiting, dysphagia, failure to thrive, food getting stuck in the oesophagus and can result in permanent scarring of the oesophagus. Delays in diagnosis and treatment failure is not uncommon. There is no cure, and no predictor for treatment response has been identified.

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How intracardiac blood flow patterns determine the development of preterm heart
Project Grant
Description:

The heart is a complex structure designed to help pump blood efficiently around the body. While much is known about how the heart contracts and changes shape, limited attention has been paid to the properties of the blood flowing inside the cardiac chambers.

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Repurposing emerging immunotherapies to treat antibiotic resistant urinary tract infections in children
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

Urinary tract infections are a common cause of bacterial infection, mostly affecting females. These infections can cause long-term damage to the urinary tract, especially when they occur in children.

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Counting the carbohydrate, fat and protein: An insulin dosing app to improve blood glucose levels in Type 1 Diabetes in children and adolescents using insulin pump therapy
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

Type 1 Diabetes is associated with a significant, on-going health care burden for the individual and the community.  While insulin pump therapy will tailor the insulin dose and delivery accordingly, insulin dosing for carbohydrate, fat and protein is significantly more complicated than determining the insulin dose for carbohydrate alone.

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2018

An online intervention to improve child dietary intake in childcare.
Project Grant
Researchers:

Alice Grady

Description:

Internationally, 41 million children aged 0-5 years were overweight or obese in 2016(1). Poor nutrition is one of the most important risk factors for the development of obesity(2). As early childhood is a formative time for developing healthy eating behaviours, population health strategies that support children to eat better are of upmost importance(3).

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Understanding how cohabiting bacteria in urine influence treatment of urinary infections and urinary leakage in children: a pilot study
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

Urinary leakage in the daytime, feeling of urgency to urinate and frequent urination are common and often incapacitating problems in school-aged children. If affects 5-10% of healthy, otherwise normal children and significantly disrupts their day-to-day life and learning.(6,7)  This has consequences for mental health and healthy development.

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Understanding the link between immune cell function and lung function in the development of asthma in early life
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

Asthma affects one in eight children in Australia and is the leading cause of hospitalisations and emergency visits, with an estimated annual health care cost of more than 24 billion Australian dollars in 2015. Asthma is the most common medical complication in pregnancy and is strongly associated with the development of childhood asthma. ntion strategy for asthma.

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2017

Grow Well Smoke Free
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Joerg Mattes

Description:

Grow Well Smoke Free: A double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial in pregnancy

Co-funded with the University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well

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Management of asthma during pregnancy
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Vanessa Murphy

Description:

Management of asthma during pregnancy, early life nutrition and offspring respiratory outcomes at age 3

Co-funded with the University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well

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 Role of circRNAs in human eosinophilic Oesophagitis
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Adam Collison

Description:

 Role of circRNAs in human eosinophilic Oesophagitis - a novel assessment of disease pathogenesis with potential diagnostic and therapeutic benefit

Co-funded with the University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well

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Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILC2s) in paediatric UTI's
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Malcolm Starkey

Description:

Understanding the role of Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILC2s) in paediatric urinary tract infections

Co-funded with the University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well

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Impact of a uniform intervention on girl’s physical activity
Project Grant
Description:

Research indicates that many school-aged children, in particularly girls, are not sufficiently active. Girls are less active than boys with differences beginning from as young as 8 years. Improving physical activity, particularly among girls, has been identified as a public health priority.

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Left atrium volume and deformation in preterm infants
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

The left atrium (LA) is one of the four chambers of the heart. Its primary roles are to act as a holding chamber for blood returning from the lungs and to act as a pump to transport blood to the left ventricle of the heart, after which the blood flows to the body.

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Re-purposing PARP inhibitors to treat childhood leukaemias
Project Grant
Description:

Cancer is the most common cause of childhood disease-related deaths, with leukaemia the most common childhood cancer in Australia. The two most common forms of leukaemia in children are acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Whilst remission is achievable in over 95% of ALL cases, 1/3 of patients will relapse within 5 to 10 years, and these children will not be long-term survivors. AML accounts for 20% of all childhood leukaemias, and the outlook for children diagnosed with AML is much worse, with only approximately half of children surviving for 5 years post-diagnosis.

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2016

Development and pilot study of an evidence-based internet intervention to improve symptoms, functioning and health-related quality of life in children with functional abdominal pain
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Scott Nightingale, Dr Milena Heinsch, Associate Professor Maria Kangas (Macquarie University), Professor Mike Jones (Macquarie University)

Description:

Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, or CBT, is one of the few effective therapies for children with functional abdominal pain. But CBT sessions can be costly and difficult to access, particularly as multiple sessions are required.

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Prader-Willi Syndrome
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Komal Vora, A/Professor Patricia Crock, Dr Vicki Maltby

Description:

HCRF has funded Dr Komal Vora’s study into Prader-Willi Syndrome – a complex genetic disorder that affects development and growth of the child, manifesting as cognitive disability, obesity, short stature and a chronic feeling of hunger.

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The role of microbiome development in the early origins of asthma in a high risk population
Project Grant
Description:

Children born to mothers with asthma are three times more likely to develop asthma themselves than those with asthmatic fathers, which suggests that a risk factor extends beyond genetics. There is emerging evidence that bacteria in the infant’s gut can impact immune function and contribute to the types of immune responses that are seen in asthma.

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2015

Do we need to intervene in preterm infants with a patent ductus arteriosus?
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

Preterm birth continues to be a major health problem throughout the world. 

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2014

A novel diagnostic blood test for peanut allergy
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Adam Collison, Dr Rani Bhatia

Description:

While symptoms of food allergy range from mild to severe, patients with peanut allergy are at the highest risk of a potentially life threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis affecting up to half of all individuals who are allergic to peanut. 

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2013

High-flow Nasal-prong Warm Humidified Oxygen Pilot
Project Grant
Description:

Bronchiolitis is a very common life-threatening virus infection of the terminal airways affecting infants only.

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A life course perspective on the identification of risk factors for low birth weight
Project Grant
Researchers:
Description:

This project will identify maternal health factors (demographic, health bejaviour, physical and mental health, perceived stress and life events) that are risk factors for low birth weight.

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The prediction of egg allergy severity in children by non-invasive exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) measurement confirmed with food challenge
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Adam Collison, Dr Rani Bhatia

Description:

Six to eight percent of children suffer from clinically relevant food allergy and the prevalence is increasing worldwide(1-3).

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2012

HCRF Travel Award 2012
Travel Grant
Researchers:
A double blind cross over trial in young insulin pump users comparing their glucose control when their insulin pump settings have been set from continuous glucose sensing data interpreted by a new computer program (PumpTune), to when a doctor reviews the
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Donald Anderson, Dr Bruce King, Hphelan, Associate Professor P Cook, Mneylan, Carmel Smart
 

2011

HCRF Education Prize
Project Grant
Researchers:

Rebecca Dyson

HCRF Education Prize
Project Grant
Researchers:
Elucidating the mechanisms of steroid-resistant asthma.
Project Grant
A double blind cross over trial in young insulin pump users comparing their glucose control when their insulin pump settings have been set from continuous glucose sensing data interpreted by a new computer program (PumpTune), to when a doctor reviews the
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Donald Anderson, Dr Bruce King, Associate Professor Pcook, Mneylan, Carmel Smart
 

Establishment of Fat1 cadherin as biomarker and unique target for anti-cancer therapy in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Rick Thorne, Charles de Bock, Lisa Lincz

The Growing into Asthma Study: Wheezing prevalance and markers of airways inflammation in preschoolers born to mothers in asthma exacerbations in pregnancy
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Joerg MattesProfessor Peter Gibson, Professor M.Hensley, Associate Professor B.Whitehead, Dr Vanessa Murphy

2010

FamilyFIT: an innovative approach to increasing physical activity for the whole family
Project Grant
Researchers:
How do high protein and/or high fat meals affect postprandial glycaemic control in children and adolescents using intensive insulin therapy?
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Clare Collins, Carmel Smart, Bruce King, Patrick McElduff 

Molecular markers of reversible airway obstruction in early life and correlation with clinical wheezing patterns
Project Grant
Researchers:

Associate Professor Joerg Mattes, Paul Foster, Bruce Whitehead, Ana Pereira de Siqueira 

2009

Validation of energy intake and expenditure in young children using Food Frequency Questionnaires, doubly-labelled water and accelerometers
Project Grant
Researchers:
Preterm Infant Carbon Monoxide Study (PICOS)
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Ian Wright
 

HCRF Meningococcal Research
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Caroline Blackwell
 

2008

In children with type 1 Diabetes on intensive insulin therapy, can improving carbohydrate knowledge and targeted nutrition education strategies improve diabetes management?
Project Grant

2007

Development of pituitary autoantibody assays
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Patricia Crock
 

The effects of passive smoking on children with asthma
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Peter Gibson, Dr BJ Whitehead, Professor M Hensley
 

2006

A web-based fathers' network and health information service for first-time fathers"
Project Grant
Researchers:

Mr Richard Fletcher, Dr DR Keatinge
 

Validating tools to assess children's' food intake to develop healthy eating programs
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Clare Collins, Dr J Warren
 

Characterisation of the sex-specific differences in preterm neonatal cardiovascular adaption
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Ian Wright, Dr VL Clifton
 

2005

Objective measures of empathy: clinical application to aggressive children and adolescents
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Mark Chorlton, Dr Frini Karayanidis, Prof K Nunn
 

Identification of target autoantigens in pituitary autoimmunity
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Patricia Crock
 

Airway inflammation in childhood asthma
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Peter Gibson, Dr B Whitehead, Professor M Hensley
 

Assessment of Alloiococcus Otitis for its potential as a pathogen in otitis media
Project Grant
Researchers:

Associate Professor John Stuart, Professor C Blackwell

Vitamin B12 and Gene interactions in autism
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Michelle Adams, Dr MD Lucock,  Associate Professor J Stuart
 

2004

Facial identify and facial expression processing in autism
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Frini KarayanidisProfessor P Michie, Professor K Nunn, Mr T Passfield, Mr P Johnston
 

Continuing the search for the elusive causes of autism
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Gillian Turner, Dr Lynn Banna
 

Evaluation of family partnerships model training and its possible impact on child and family health nurses' practice and client care
Project Grant
Researchers:

Professor Diana Keatinge, Dr C Fowler
 

Gene regulation by Omega-3 fatty acids controls preterm labour
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Richard Nicholson, Dr BR King
 

2003

The effects of cigarette smoke on immune and inflammatory responses in aboriginal and non-aboriginal children with middle ear infections
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr John Stuart, Professor C Blackwell
 

Prediction of birth by Prostaglandin metabolite labels in urine.
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Tamas Zaka, Dr IMR Wright
 

A randomised control trial comparing diabetic children provided with fortnightly phone support to c control group receiving regular support.
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr G Anderson, Sr E Nunn
 

Quantitive EEG analysis of the maturational changes associated with childhood and juvenile absence epilepsy.
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Roger Smith, Dr Mick Hunter
 

2002

Acting on overweight and obesity in Hunter children
Project Grant
Peripheral vascular tone in the neonatal period; the influence of pre-eclampsia
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Ian Wright, Professor W Giles
 

Respiratory outcomes in the first three years after neonatal respiratory support: comparison of conventional management versus columbia style respiratory support
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Christopher Wake, Dr IMR Wright

The prevalence and quality of learning support plans for children with disabilities receiving integration funding in mainstream Hunter Valley Primary Schools
Project Grant
Researchers:

Ms A Prigg, Dr G Vimpani
 

Sleep related breathing disorders in children with cleft palate
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Bruce Whitehead, Dr JM Hilton
 

Development of a Children's memory questionnaire
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Karen Drysdale, Mr W Levick
 

Rehabilitation of attention and executive functions deficits in children.
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Karen Drysdale, Mr W Levick
 

2000

Nutritional status of children undergoing chemotherapy; a cross sectional review
Project Grant
Development and environmental risk factors for respiratory infections in aboriginal and non-aboriginal children
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Maree Gleeson
 

Preventing infant exposure to tobacco smoke: evaluation of an early childhood intervention
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr John Wiggers, Ms R Considine
 

To characterise the effect of rhinoviral infection in children ages 7-16 years with an acute exacerbation of asthma requiring admission to hospital
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr P Jones, Dr Darren Shafren and Dr Peter Gibson
 

1998

Characterisation of a Pituitary Target Autoantigen
Project Grant
Researchers:

Dr Damien D'wyer, Trish Crock and Roger Smith