Snow Fellowship to boost work on autoimmune neurological diseases.
 

Concord Hospital neurologist and University of Sydney researcher Associate Professor Sudarshini (Darshi) Ramanathan has been awarded a Snow Medical Fellowship to advance her research program, which aims to better understand, diagnose and treat autoimmune neurological diseases. 

The Snow Medical Fellowship provides $8 million over eight years, enabling leading researchers to pursue long-term research programs and tackle complex challenges. 

“This fellowship is incredibly unique in the Australian funding landscape,” said Associate Professor Ramanathan, who leads the Translational Neuroimmunology Group at the ANZAC Research Institute at Concord and the Kids Neuroscience Centre (Children’s Hospital at Westmead). 

“With eight years of substantial investment from Snow Medical, and with support from the University of Sydney, you have an unprecedented opportunity to expand a research program. 

“With this kind of support, you save an enormous amount of time applying for grants each year to support the salaries of your team and your research consumables. Instead of being distracted with where the money is going to come from, you can actually focus on the work at hand. 

“It moves our research from being project-based and from a hand-to-mouth existence, to being program-based, allowing us to take risks, be innovative, and plan for the long-term. Importantly, it allows me to give security and stability to support and mentor the talented members of my team as they progress through their own career trajectories.” 

Associate Professor Ramathanan’s research has focused on a group of antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases that affect the nervous system and have historically been misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, with many of these disorders only being recognised in the recent years. 

“The field is very young, and there is much to learn” she said. 

“We do basic science research to understand how and why these diseases actually happen on an immunobiological level. We try to ensure diagnosis is optimised by clinical recognition and validated detection assays, and we learn to refine and optimise immune treatment to reverse disability. 

“These are serious disorders including encephalitis and demyelination – they affect children and adults of all ages. They can result in blindness, paralysis, seizures, and death. But if you get it right early enough, and you treat them appropriately, these patients can have reversal of that disability, and they can have a normal life.”   

Associate Professor Ramanathan was named alongside two other researchers – Dr Deborah Burnett from the University of NSW and Dr Ira Deveson from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research – at a presentation by Snow Medical last month. 

Snow Medical was founded by the Snow family of Canberra to support Australian researchers through long-term sustainable funding to ensure globally relevant research is supported. 

“Snow Medical are remarkable,” Associate Professor Ramanathan said. 

“Having been through the application process and having met the family – they are deeply involved and invested in the process. They have the vision and foresight to invest in health and medical research and support researchers they believe in, to make a long-term impact on improving outcomes for patients. 

“In addition to the funding, they provide leadership coaching to the fellows and members of their team, they create an ecosystem of Snow fellows and Snow laboratories for collaboration – they really try to equip you for success. I think philanthropy done in this manner is extraordinary and inspiring, and I am immensely grateful to be part of this.”