60,000 families, 1 year of recruitment and more...
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GenView edition #5 | September 2022
GenV celebrates one year anniversary with significant recruitment milestone
GenV, one of the world’s largest-ever birth and parent cohort studies, is celebrating its one-year anniversary of being available to all families having a baby in Victoria.
So far, more than 60,000 babies, mothers and fathers have joined the study, which is recruiting in every birthing hospital across the state over a 2 year period.
The 60,000-participant milestone was marked in early September at Werribee Mercy Hospital with State Medical Research Minister Jaala Pulford and Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas. Grant funding of $685,000 for GenV's Maternal Vaccine Study was also announced.
GenV making impossible research possible
GenV’s size and inclusion is making research possible that was out of reach before.
Just 12 months since whole-state recruitment began, GenV has now leveraged more than $24M in collaborator-led grants to improve health and wellbeing outcomes. Thank you to our funders Victorian Government, Medical Research Future Fund and the National Health and Medical Research Council for their support.
GenV: available at 58 Victorian birthing hospitals statewide
GenV is open to all babies born in Victoria. We are delighted to now be located in all 58 Victorian birthing hospitals; that's 23 metro and 35 regional locations around the state.
As we celebrate 1-year of recruitment in October, we're equally as excited to see lots of notable milestone numbers for GenV happening in the field, near and far:
- 1,000 families at Cabrini Health in Malvern and Frances Perry House
- 1,000 babies at Mercy Health Services in Heidelberg
- 1,000 participants at St John of God – Berwick.
A massive shout out of thank you to all our recruitment teams, hospital staff and GenV participants who make it happen.
GenV is now in its most vital period: recruitment of babies born in the next 12 months will determine GenV’s capacity for transformational research projects.
Loss of developmental skills registry – first of its kind
GenV and Monash University have partnered to develop a unique whole-state registry for young children who develop, but then start to lose, developmental skills.
The unique registry will combine information from GenV families with bio-samples, clinical assessments and parent surveys.
The initiative aims to fast-track research discovery that could lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses, as well as effective treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders that can present with skill loss, such as autism.
Have you heard? GenV was also included as a case study in the Victorian Government’s Health and Medical Research Strategy: 2022-2023. The Strategy enables future planning and investment in health and medical research over the next ten years. We were honoured to have GenV showcased in the Strategy launch video, featuring Professor Jim Buttery and the Fitzpatrick family.
“In the next decade, Victorian research will improve through the active participation of Victorian families as well the ongoing revolution in information” - Jim Buttery, University of Melbourne and Generation Victoria researcher
GenV is led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), supported by The Royal Children’s Hospital and The University of Melbourne, and funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the Victorian Government and The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
