Congratulations to Dr John Pierce, Post Doctoral researcher from the Aphasia CRE at La Trobe University has secured a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grant of $565,000 for treatment of aphasia.
Aphasia is a language disorder that arises after damage to the language networks in the brain, with stroke a major cause. People with aphasia find themselves suddenly having difficulty producing and understanding spoken and written language, despite still knowing what they want to communicate.
Dr Pierce said the outcome was encouraging. “Aphasia has profound effects on every area of people’s lives as well as their family and friends,” Dr Pierce. “To be successful in the MRFF grant on our first application is very humbling and rewarding,” he said.
“We’re very excited about the potential of this research to have a real impact for people living with aphasia.”
“This grant allows us to trial our new treatment for post-stroke aphasia called M-MAT Tele; Professor Miranda Rose, Director of the Aphasia CRE, developed Multi-Modality Aphasia Therapy a few years ago to treat aphasia.
M-MAT Tele was developed initially with an internal grant from La Trobe, then further supported by funding from the Stroke Foundation and Speech Pathology Australia. In M-MAT, a speech pathologist supports patients with aphasia to build their everyday communication during targeted language tasks in small groups.”
The MRFF grant will enable Dr Pierce and his team to provide M-MAT via telehealth, overcoming the challenge of distance that many people with aphasia face when seeking treatment. A partnership with Austin Health means that Dr Pierce will be able to collaborate with health services to provide treatment to aphasia patients leaving hospital.
This research will enable people with aphasia to access treatment regardless of where they are located.
Congratulations To John and the team!
Find out more about MMat Tele here – www.mmat.rehab
Learn about the Aphasia CRE here – https://www.latrobe.edu.au/research/centres/health/aphasia