The Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) is one of the world’s leading medical research institutes. It is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia and has a strong international reputation in the field of infectious diseases, cancer, mental health and population health.
QIMR was founded in 1937 as the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and became an institute within the University of Queensland in 1957. In 1980, it was renamed the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. QIMR has grown significantly over the years and now employs over 1,000 staff across eight campuses in Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns and Herston. It is a member of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), which funds most of its research programs.
QIMR’s mission is to improve human health by conducting high quality medical research that makes a real difference to people’s lives. Its vision is to be a world leader in discovery science that benefits all humanity. QIMR conducts basic laboratory-based research as well as clinical trials and epidemiological studies. It has a strong focus on translation – taking discoveries from the lab into real-world settings such as hospitals and communities.
QIMR has made many important contributions to global health over its 80-year history. These include developing vaccines for meningococcal disease, cervical cancer and influenza; discovering new genes linked to cancer susceptibility; helping to establish Australia’s first national melanoma tissue bank; and leading groundbreaking studies into Aboriginal Australians’ health.
The institute continues to grow its impact internationally through strong collaborative relationships with other leading medical research organisations around the world. In recent years these have included major partnerships with Harvard University, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK, Stanford University School of Medicine in the US, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas,and Beijing Genomics Institute in China