The Kirby Institute at UNSW Australia is honoured to receive a bequest of $1.4 million from the estate of the late Dr Lynn Joseph, a general practitioner and World War II veteran with a lifetime commitment to health care, particularly at the community level.
The philanthropic donation conveys Dr Joseph’s enduring endeavours for the betterment of mankind through medicine and will be directed towards Kirby Institute programs working to establish the best ways of engaging general practitioners in the management of infectious diseases.
Funds from the bequest will initially be used to support training to upskill general practitioners, who will be pivotal to the roll-out of new, highly curative hepatitis C therapies, which became available to the approximately 230,000 people living with chronic hepatitis C in Australia as of 1 March 2016. Australia is unique internationally in terms of breadth of access to these life-saving hepatitis C treatments and the inclusion of general practitioners as prescribers.
The Kirby Institute’s Professor Greg Dore will lead the team to investigate the best ways to engage general practitioners in the management of hepatitis C and provide training for administering the new treatments.
“Dr Joseph’s commitment to holistic care for patients and the crucial role of community marks a profound alignment with the values and work of the Kirby Institute,” said Professor Dore. “His gift will have a real impact on our ability to transform the lives of people living with hepatitis C in Australia. With broad access to these game-changing new treatments and general practitioner management, Australia will truly lead the world in the treatment of the virus, and Dr Joseph’s legacy of care will continue through this work.”
The Kirby Institute’s Director Scientia Professor David Cooper is honoured by the bequest which he says will facilitate vital research. “For the past 30 years the Kirby Institute has committed unwavering passion to research in the pursuit of transforming health and saving lives. I am very grateful to the late Dr Joseph and his family for this support which will enable us to uncover innovative new ways to tackle enduring health problems.”