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‘We want you to be our mother’ – Fiona Stanley

Figure 1. Population pyramid demonstrating the relative youth of Australia’s Indigenous population, 2009. [4]
Figure 1. Population pyramid demonstrating the relative youth of Australia’s Indigenous population, 2009.

Surely we don’t need any more research? Surely we know what to do to improve Aboriginal health? Surely we know the best environments for healthy child development? In this article I provide a rationale for Aboriginal child health research, give a history of my own personal journey in Aboriginal child health from the 1970s to 2011, give examples of our research and its application to improve outcomes and how we have provided the environment to build the careers of Aboriginal researchers; and finally, end with several recommendations.

The aims of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR) are fourfold:

  1. To conduct high quality research;
  2. To apply research findings (not only our own) to improve the health and well being of children, adolescents and families;
  3. To teach the next generation of health researchers; and
  4. To be an advocate for children, for research and for social justice.

We do all this by…