Orygen’s executive director, Professor Patrick McGorry, was last night awarded one of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia’s highest honours, receiving a Research Excellence Award as the top-ranked Research Fellowship applicant for 2018.
Professor McGorry’s Senior Principal Research Fellowship application was ranked first in the highly competitive health and medical research field, and saw him receive $963,000 to continue his research into improving interventions and models of care for young people experiencing mental ill-health. Professor McGorry said the fellowship would support him in building a new diagnostic approach to mental health that would supersede traditional diagnostic systems and link with and support the optimal timing, sequence and duration of new and existing therapies.
“I remain committed to developing new models and evidence-based interventions, treatments and service systems for young people in order for them to enjoy optimal mental health as they grow into adults,” Professor McGorry said. “Research is integral to achieving this.”
Professor McGorry is a world leader in early psychosis and youth mental health research and care. He pioneered the early intervention model of care for young people with early psychosis from subthreshold stages through the critical period of the early years after onset, and subsequently the youth mental health models at headspace and Orygen.
These models of care, which focus on intervening early and providing holistic care to young people at the early stage of illness, have been recognised as one of the most significant recent reforms in global mental health care. The model has been adopted by mental health services across Australia and around the world.