Our Partners
Our partners in redefining ageing
Aegium Foundation works with a small number of strategic partners that we believe have the best chance of making the most effective, most far-reaching use of our support. They work in different ways to help maximise the potential of older years, not forgetting those older people who suffer challenges of distance, cultural understanding or social disadvantage.
The University of Queensland
Our biggest investment is in the Masonic Chair in Geriatric Medicine at University of Queensland (UQ). In 1986, Queensland Freemasons contributed $1 million to establish the Foundation to enable it to set up the new chair to help enhance geriatric medicine teaching and encourage research into geriatric medicine. Since then the Foundation’s capital has risen to $6 million and will continue to help fund the Chair. The current holder of the position is Professor Len Gray who has a clear vision for the future of ageing and how tomorrow’s doctors can contribute. Learn more about our key initiative.
After a careful review of the potential and needs, Aegium Foundation gave seed funding to establishing the Centre for Research in Geriatric Medicine, which has developed a telemedicine facility, based at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. Under the direction of Professor Len Gray, the centre allows specialists in geriatric health to video-consult with patients in small and remote hospitals and nursing homes around Queensland. This initiative is transforming the level of care for older people outside the cities and deepening understanding of the health issues older Australians face.
Griffith University
Parkinson’s Disease is one of the most common debilitating diseases of age in Australia. Aegium Foundation has been very impressed with the research of the Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery at Griffith University in Brisbane and is supporting Professor George Mellick in his promising work, which includes both studying the interaction of environmental and genetic factors in Parkinson’s and developing clinical trials of innovative treatments for Parkinson's Disease and related disorders.
Our focus is on fresh, smarter, collaborative approaches that use our funds wisely to achieve far-reaching improvements.
Helping where it's needed
- 13% of Queensland’s population are currently aged 65 years or older.
- Specialist geriatric expertise is one of the biggest influencers of later-life health.
- 67% of geriatric medicine specialists have their primary practice in a capital city.
- 30 people in Australia are diagnosed with Parkinson’s every day.
- Every year nearly 50,000 years of healthy life are lost to Parkinson’s.
