News release

From: The Westmead Institute for Medical Research

Australia has launched its largest‑ever liver research initiative: a seven‑year, $15.5 million national program to fast‑track prevention, diagnosis and treatment for Metabolic (dysfunction) Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD). The program is headquartered at the Storr Liver Centre, Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) and unites leading teams across multiple states in a coordinated, discovery‑to‑clinic effort.

MAFLD affects up to one in three adults and is now the leading cause of chronic liver disease in Australia and worldwide. No medicines are currently approved in Australia, and severe disease is rising, underscoring the need for tangible clinical outcomes and improvements for patients.

The national consortium includes the Centenary Institute, the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, Westmead Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and additional partners across Australia. Teams will integrate immune and macrophage biology, ageing science, spatial transcriptomics, genomics/systems biology, bioinformatics, nutritional immuno‑metabolism and microbiome research with large, ethnically diverse patient cohorts.

“This program finally gives Australia the scale and continuity to outpace a disease that’s accelerating faster than our health system can respond,” said Professor Jacob George, Head of the Storr Liver Centre (WIMR).

“Its strength is true interdisciplinarity, linking basic biology with diagnostics and diverse patient cohorts to deliver actionable advances,” said Professor Geoff McCaughan, Centenary Institute.

The program also includes senior female leadership roles, structured mentoring for women EMCRs, and female co‑leads on each major research aim, building long‑term balance in biomedical leadership.