Associate Professor Peter Lazzarini, a researcher and podiatrist from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and The Prince Charles Hospital, has received a $1,603,775 Investigator Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), to research better management of people with diabetes foot disease.
Assoc Prof Lazzarini’s project, Better feet, better lives: Next generation care for people with diabetes foot disease, will test a number of next generation tools and treatments, with the ultimate aim to help reduce the burden of this large disease.
Professor Lazzarini explains the rationale behind the project.
“Diabetes foot disease is now one of the largest causes of the world’s total disease burden. In fact, our latest estimates indicate it causes a disease burden larger than dementia and breast cancer combined. On average, one in every 40 people around the world now live with diabetes foot disease and unfortunately, these people often can’t feel pain, ulcers or infections until they end up being hospitalised or amputated,” he said.
“Existing evidence-based best care has been found to be able to prevent around half of these hospitalisations and amputations, yet few people can actually get this care. With this new research grant, we plan to test a number of novel tools and treatments designed to empower people with diabetes foot disease to better detect, self-care and access best care. With these tools, hopefully we can help deliver better feet and better lives for people with diabetes foot disease right around the world, and in turn a better world with less than half the hospitalisations, amputations and diabetes foot disease burden than we have today.”
Assoc Prof Lazzarini was one of three QUT researchers who were awarded a collective $6M+ in this year’s round of the NHMRC Investigator Grants scheme.
The NHMRC Investigator Grants scheme aim to:
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