Indigenous man and immunology researcher Dr Guy Cameron has received a grant for his work developing a model of human middle ear epithelium as a platform for transforming children’s ear disease research.
His colleagues, Professor Kelvin Kong AM and audiologist Ms Eura Lim also received an award for introducing a model of care which has substantially reduced wait times for children waiting with an ENT referral.
Dr Cameron is an Imaging Fellow at Hunter Medical Research Institute and a post-doctoral researcher in the institute’s Aboriginal ear health team. He was one of four researchers to receive the Hunter Children’s Research Foundation grants totalling $120,000 on 1 November 2024.
“I’m honoured to receive this grant on behalf of our team; it brings us one step closer to understanding otitis media,” Dr Cameron told Hearing Practitioner Australia.
“Models of human middle ear epithelium provide a new way to investigate how microorganisms drive immune and inflammatory processes that underpin disease.
“We believe this will help drive the development of new avenues for both treatment and prevention of otitis media.”
Prof Kong added: “The ear health research team is a dynamic, robust and eclectic team with a broad range of skills.
“Among many things, they are aiming to build better models to understand mechanisms underpinning otitis media (OM) with an aim of enabling better treatments. It is great recognition for Guy to be recognised in his lead in this aspect.”
Dr Cameron acknowledged his team, saying the research would not be possible without his co-investigators – Prof Kong and immunology and microbiology researchers Ms Olivia Carroll, Professor Jay Horvat and Dr Gerard Kaiko.
He said that up to 70% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were affected by OM in the first few years of life but it was not understood why these children experienced higher rates of, and more severe disease.
OM typically results from a bacterial infection in the middle ear, causing significant pain with hearing loss as fluid accumulates behind the eardrum.
Dr Cameron described it as a “developmental emergency”. It not only leads to developmental delay but is also the leading cause of preventable deafness in children causing lifelong impact and disadvantage.
Dr Cameron works closely with Prof Kong, a proud and respected Worimi man, otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon who is a professor at the University of Newcastle’s School of Medicine and Public Health, honorary professor at Macquarie University and an associate professor at UNSW.
ENT referral waits reduced by two-thirds
The Hunter Children’s Research Foundation also awarded its Acknowledgement of Research Excellence (CARE) awards to five researchers for outstanding contributions to children’s health research in NSW’s Hunter New England region.
The foundation, in conjunction with Hunter businesses, developed the CARE awards.
Clinical peers nominate colleagues they regard as worthy of receiving recognition for the difference they have made, or are making, with their research in child health.
Prof Kong and Lim (as part of the broader ENT team) received the CARE achievement in quality improvement award for their work in John Hunter Children’s Hospital Audiology and ENT Outpatients.
The ENT team’s innovative model of care involving a multidisciplinary approach has substantially reduced wait times for children to receive ENT referral and if required surgery. It has reportedly reduced waiting times from about 600 days to 150.
