Bond University is proud to have played a part in securing a $2.2 million Sustainable Regions grant for the construction of a new Clinical Education and Research Institute in the Tweed region.
Federal Nationals Member for Page, Ian Causley, yesterday announced that the Australian Government has approved the grant to construct the Institute on the grounds of the Tweed Hospital.
The project will be known as the Tweed Clinical Training & Research Institute and is a joint venture involving The Tweed Hospital, Bond University and Griffith University.
Bond University Vice Chancellor Professor Robert Stable said; “Just as the Bond University Medical Program is an ‘Australian first’, so too is the successful collaboration of a hospital, private and public university to achieve such a facility for a region.”
“This new Institute will provide excellent clinical experience and amenities for our medical students as they develop into outstanding doctors of the future.
“The Institute’s purpose-built design also complements the state-of-the-art learning environment they experience at Bond University,” Professor Stable said.
Bond University Dean of Health Sciences and Medicine, Professor Chris Del Mar, who is internationally recognised in the field of Evidence Based Medicine, said that “A clinical teaching facility supported by a research base is to be applauded given the nexus between teaching and research.”
“ Bond University is also excited at the opportunity to contribute its considerable research expertise in ways that will enhance the quality of health services available to the region.
“We are proud of our partnership with NSW Health and Griffith University in establishing such a unique facility, which will have considerable positive benefits for the quality of the medical workforce and future health services in the region,” Professor Del Mar said.
The Hon. Ian Causley MP said the new facility would “go a long way to addressing the recruitment and retention of quality home-grown doctors and other healthcare professionals”.
“This project will encourage young medical practitioners who have completed training placements in our local hospitals to come back here when they graduate. After all, it has been shown that students who are drawn from a rural background are more likely to return to a rural area to work,” Mr Causley said.