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Global pandemic therapeutics centre to open in Australia

05 September 2022 | News

Greater resilience for societies around the world in dealing with future pandemics is a core objective

The establishment of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics has been announced by the University of Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, located in Melbourne’s biomedical precinct, Australia.

The establishment of the new Centre is made possible by the exceptional generosity of international businessman and philanthropist, Geoffrey Cumming, a Canadian and New Zealand citizen who lives in Melbourne. Cumming has donated $250 million to the University of Melbourne to establish the new Cumming Global Centre within the Doherty Institute.

This is the largest philanthropic donation to medical research, and one of the largest gifts, in Australia’s history. 

The Victorian Government has also contributed significantly to the new world-leading centre, initially committing $75 million in funding in recognition of the critical need to advance the science behind therapeutics.

The Centre will address the critical need to prepare for future pandemics. It will enable the rapid design and testing of new therapeutics, and their delivery to the community within months of a pandemic outbreak. To complement public health measures and in addition to vaccines, an effective pandemic response requires therapeutics for those who contract the disease.

The Centre will be established in the new $650 million Australian Institute for Infectious Disease, a partnership between the University of Melbourne, the Doherty Institute and Burnet Institute, co-funded by the Victorian Government as the major supporting partner.

 

Image caption- L-R: Philanthropists Geoffrey and Anna Cumming, University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Duncan Maskell, Doherty Institute Director, Professor Sharon Lewin and University of Melbourne Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor Jim McCluskey

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