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Much as he loves the micro level of medical research, John Challis came to the realisation many years ago, that the macro level - the translation of that research - is even more exciting.

"We researchers are in an extremely privileged position, spending money from the public purse, so it is our responsibility to give back to the community," said Winthrop Professor Challis, the new Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health and Medical Research).

In his new position, he is charged with another responsibility: to design and implement strategies to ensure that UWA receives the funding to enable that research.

In recent years, UWA's and indeed Western Australia's share of medical research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) - ‘ the gold standard', as Professor Challis put it - has declined.

"My job, over the next two years, is to reverse that decline and, with the guidance of the Vice-Chancellor and the help of the DVC (Research) Robyn Owens, I aim to build partnerships with other universities and governments and to bring together research institutions that are associated with UWA to achieve greater critical mass, to encourage NHMRC and other funding," he said.

His research field is pre-term births and he has collaborated with Winthrop Professor John Newnham for several years. After a postdoctoral position at Harvard University, Professor Challis returned home to the UK to work at the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research in Oxford. He began to take an interest in the strategic side of medical research and became the inaugural scientific director of a new medical research institute in London, Ontario.

"I worked in St Joseph's Hospital, renowned for its holistic care, but lagging behind in research." Over 12 years, he increased their research output enormously and was recruited by the University of Toronto to the Chair of the famous Department of Physiology, where the discovery of insulin in 1921 led to a Nobel Prize.

"We grew the department by 25 faculty appointments in three years by building bridges between the university and hospital-based research institutions: similar to what we had done in London at St Joseph's, but in the reverse direction," he said.

Professor Challis was in demand.

He became one of the inaugural scientific directors of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. "Formation of CIHR was transformational and changed the focus from medical research to outcomes and better health research. It was as much about translation into better community health and policy as publishing academic papers," he said. In this position, Professor Challis helped to design research questions that were important to the community.

He then returned to the University of Toronto as its Vice President Research and Associate Provost. He describes it as "an unbelievable job, with responsibility across the entirety of this THES top 20 University and an annual research budget approaching $1 billion."

After five years in what was probably his favourite job, Professor Challis was asked to join the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research in Vancouver. Michael Smith was another Nobel Laureate, in Chemistry.

"This foundation was set up in response to exactly the same circumstances as we see in WA now - a decline in funding for medical research," he said.

"The provincial government of British Columbia kick-started the funding and helped us to recruit and retain the best scholars and trainees.

"I hope to bring to bear here my experience at the Michael Smith.

"We need to define who we are in terms of health and medical research. What are our major strengths and what are those areas in which UWA stands tall in Australia and in the world today and what are our opportunities to stand tall in another three to five years?"

Professor Challis commended Professor Owens' ‘near miss' funding for researchers who don't get NHMRC funding but who have submitted their applications for internal peer review.

"She has also instituted the funding to bridge the salary gap difference between a NHMRC personal award and a researcher's University salary.

"That allows us to say to top researchers: ‘Bring your NHMRC funding here and we'll make up the difference.' It's a remarkable offer and one that about 34 medical researchers and more than 50 in other disciplines are already enjoying."

He wants to build on the Michael Smith model which created a supportive and collaborative environment with the government.

"Too often in health, we go to the government and say: ‘Give us money and we'll do great things.' We have to turn that around and say: ‘What do you need, how can we help the community and use this funding?'

"We have great researchers here and I am so impressed by their openness, willingness and enthusiasm to take this great University forward."