Malaria Vaccine Project

The partnership between Rotary and Griffith University (Institute for Glycomics) has raised nearly $500,000 to enable the critical clinical trials of Professor Michael Good’s promising malaria vaccine PlasProtecT®. to proceed in Australia.

These clinical trials will enable further clinical trials of the vaccine to take place in endemic regions like Africa, the Pacific Islands and South America. The consequences are enormous for millions of people who suffer or die from malaria and I can only begin to imagine what it might mean for the standing of Griffith University.

How many people in Australia have become more aware of Griffith University through this partnership? How many Gold Coast locals have recognised for the first time the humanitarian impact that the Institute for Glycomics is making through this kind of lifesaving research?At Griffith University we pride ourselves in “being remarkable”: providing remarkable graduates, doing remarkable research and providing remarkable opportunities.

My hope is that we can create more remarkable partnerships like the one between Rotary and the Institute for Glycomics. I congratulate the Malaria Vaccine Project Committee responsible for initiating and driving this partnership, for making these vital clinical trials in malaria a reality and most of all for creating a new and sustainable model in community-university partnerships.

Professor Ned Pankhurst Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Griffith University