Epworth's new mental health research centre opens

Epworth HealthCare's new mental health research unit, the Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health (ECIMH), has officially opened with an intimate ceremony to mark the occasion.

The ECIMH is part of Epworth Clinic's mental health service offering in Camberwell, conducting research to better understand mental health, develop new treatments and improve existing treatments for people experiencing mental health concerns.

"Research makes innovative treatments possible that can have life-changing benefits for patients," said Professor Paul Fitzgerald, Director of Psychiatry and Head of the Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health.

"We are incredibly lucky to have received support from Sue Keable, a generous donor to the Epworth Medical Foundation who had the foresight to recognise the significance of mental health research, and the need to develop innovative treatments that will bring critical hope to people experiencing mental health concerns."

"What we have is unique, embedding our research unit within a hospital environment which will ensure the outcomes will directly translate to a wider range of evidence-based treatment options for Epworth Clinic patients."

Professor Fitzgerald leads a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, researchers and engineers who are all dedicated to enhancing mental health outcomes.

Together, they will focus on improving transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment for depression, investigating TMS as a new treatment for OCD, PTSD, chronic pain, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and addiction, and developing and evaluating other innovative treatments such as transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) for OCD and depression in young people.

The ECIMH has a newly-built space at Epworth Camberwell, comprising of clinical labs and research offices and a growing suite of sophisticated neurostimulation and monitoring equipment.

"Across Epworth, we work in an organisational environment that supports its staff to innovate and strongly encourages the translation of evidence-based ideas into clinical practice. This has shaped the formation of ECIMH."

Learn more about the Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health.

Image (top): Sue Keable (pictured centre) cuts the ribbon to officially open the research centre alongside Dr Lachlan Henderson, Mr Scott Bulgar, Professor Fitzgerald, Sue's son Murray and Carolyn Bell.

Image (bottom): Professor Paul Fitzgerald and the Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health research team