Our Illawarra Context

The Illawarra region of New South Wales (often referred to simply as ‘the Illawarra’) is only one hour’s drive south of Sydney. A long coastal strip framed by the stunning natural features of the Illawarra escarpment to the west and the ocean to the east, the Illawarra is home to approximately 280,000 people, large manufacturing and agricultural sectors and the major regional city of Wollongong.

Health research and education

The Wollongong area is rapidly developing as a robust health research and education zone. The University of Wollongong (UOW), located to the north of the city, established a Graduate School of Medicine in 2007 with the primary aim of training doctors to work in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia. With a severe and growing shortage of medical practitioners nationwide, the School stands to make a vital contribution to the provision of health services in non-metropolitan communities.

Clinical expertise

The South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service (SESIAHS), the state government health service, is committed to positioning Wollongong Hospital as a recognised teaching hospital and to improving the quality of clinical care and range of health services available in the Illawarra region. SESIAHS has established five clinical Professorial Chairs to support the UOW’s Graduate School of Medicine, providing important leadership for clinical research and education. Proposals to develop more private hospital infrastructure in Wollongong will add to the clinical expertise and research capacity of the region.

Population studies

With its mix of metropolitan and rural influences and relatively low level of in-out migration, the Illawarra population is readily accessible for the purpose of clinical studies and the evaluation of new population health-based initiatives. In many ways it represents a microcosm of the broader NSW and Australian population; hence the results of Illawarra-based studies are likely not only to benefit the local community, but also to apply on a much broader scale.

This combination of factors has created an ideal opportunity to establish an organisation with health and medical research as its core business to complete the research, education and health service delivery triangle in the region – the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute.