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The future of healthcare

Our vision is to transform healthcare to better serve the community. We do this by focusing on research translation: bringing evidence to outcomes, discovery to practice and innovation to life.

Who we are

We are Maridulu Budyari Gumal, the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE). Our collaborative entity brings together 15 leading organisations, on a shared mission: to change the future of healthcare.

Our Mission: To come together to implement high value research discovery and deliver better value healthcare by creating new networks and opportunities to investigate, innovate and solve problems that matter to the community.

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We have paired the engine rooms of leading universities, health services and medical research institutes with the frontline of healthcare delivery in our local health districts and health networks. Together we integrate research, innovation and education, to accelerate research translation that will have real impact and drive better health outcomes for the community. 

Whether it’s getting academics working closely with clinicians, securing rapid economic development by partnering with industry, or working more effectively with state and federal governments, the work we do at SPHERE is based on a foundation of inclusion, collaboration and teamwork. 

Our footprint stretches from the Cumberland Plains across South West Sydney to Bowral, across Coogee, Darlinghurst and through Sutherland to the CBD. We serve one of the fastest growing and diverse populations in Australia, some of which are our first nations and priority populations with unmet needs.

To achieve our vision, we integrate four pillars into everything we do: 
We Collaborate, Amplify, Transform and Impact.

Accordion

Bringing people together through partnership across health, research and industry generating innovations and big ideas. 

  • Bring people together to work together and share insights that generate the innovations and big ideas to reimagine health in ways we never could if we continued to work independently.

  • Identify and prioritise the key streams for high impact research into value-based healthcare.

  • Inform Government discussions for a prioritised, balanced NSW health medical research agenda.

  • Empower co-designing and involvement of consumers through community, health service partners, RTCs, government, providers and industry for integration in our research and activities.

  • Working beyond our partnership to develop and implement significant statewide/national initiatives. 

We amplify and uplift knowledge creation and embed a research and innovation culture 

  • Our Clinical Themes  (CTs) are the vehicles for integrated, multi-disciplinary collaboration for the prioritised, key streams of high impact translational research.

  • Develop our clinician researchers with embedded training and mentoring across the research and clinical pathways.

    • Driving and accelerating the translation of evidence into value-based healthcare.

    • With our health service/network partners, translate our research knowledge to scale and embed across NSW and beyond, focusing on and addressing the prioritised healthcare challenges.

    • Drive and accelerate the path to translation with the enabling Knowledge Translation and Implementation Science Platforms and capabilities to support implementation at scale.

    • Refresh impact assessments to prioritise and progress translation of research evidence into sustained clinical practice and/or commercialisation. 

    Improving the health of our community and beyond

    • Demonstrate the impact of the sustained translation at scale of SPHERE research on the health and wellbeing of communities.

    • Promote our Partner’s successes and contribution to national and international competitiveness to increase public and private investment in NSW’s health research and innovations.

    Our Story

    We are Maridulu Budyari Gumal, the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE).

    SPHERE was formed in 2016 as a direct result of the Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research (McKeon Review) an independent review of health and medical research in Australia, commissioned by the Australian Government in 2011. The review recommended the establishment of Research Translation Centres (RTCs) to bridge the gap between research and health services with the aim of creating greater impact in patient outcomes.

    In 2017, we were accredited as an RTC for five years by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). This accreditation, together with our reaccreditation in 2022 acknowledges our leadership, research excellence and significant work in translating evidence into practice thereby improving patient care.

    Our name and logo

    In 2017, we were gifted the Aboriginal name, Maridulu Budyari Gumal, by the Dharug people. Our name means ‘working together for good health and wellbeing.’

    Our logo is a contemporary Aboriginal artwork. A wood block print of an eel egg, co-created by Professor Lisa Jackson-Pulver. The egg is a metaphor for new life. It’s a symbol of hope, for the health of the next generation.

    Cards

    Our Partners

    SPHERE brings together 15 thought-leading organisations in the Sydney region. The Partnership represents a deliberate shift away from traditional operational models of healthcare where fragmented silos worked independently, at times competing against each other. Through our collaborative operating model, we bring the research, development, innovation and implementation enterprises together to identify and work collaboratively on the BIG ideas that can transform the sector.

    Meet Our Partners