The current health crisis has highlighted the importance of medical research in helping us combat infectious diseases. Since the localised outbreaks of SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012, our knowledge in microbiology and infectious diseases has grown substantially allowing us to create better identification and detection processes.
However, there is still a gap when it comes to understanding the pathophysiology of the infection that this virus causes – that is how people get sick, what happens when they get sick and effective treatment methods.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we are beginning to see the persistent ongoing health impacts that this virus can have. This remains true even for those who have recovered from an initial infection.
The Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) is fortunate to have a close collaboration between our hospitals and the Kolling Institute of Medical Research allowing us to incorporate our cutting-edge research into clinical practice. We have formed the NSLHD COVID-19 Research Group to coordinate our response and drive innovative clinical research for the district.