In 2024, UNSW will open research space focused on stroke and telehealth research alongside clinical units within the Prince of Wales Hospital Acute Services Building (ASB). In the integrated eastern extension of the ASB which will open from mid-2024, UNSW will house state-of-the-art research, clinical innovation, biomedical teaching and research facilities, across 10 floors and approximately 5,000 square metres. On Level 8 of the extension, UNSW will offer a range of education and research activities aligned to Clinical Neurosciences and Acute Stroke units, as well as a future laboratory. UNSW Professor Ken Butcher’s stroke and telehealth research program will be one activity benefitting from the new space, as they scale up work in neurosciences, stroke and stroke imaging. Researchers will be able to access a hyperfine low-field MRI and students will learn and collaborate. Being attached to the Clinical Neurosciences and Acute stroke floor of the ASB means that researchers can closely assess and discuss clinical research and interventions more efficiently - benefiting patient’s health outcomes. “By co-locating our research program alongside the hospital’s Clinical Neurosciences and Acute Stroke units, we’ll be able to work together to enhance care. We will embed data collection, monitoring and analysis in an acute clinical environment,” Professor Butcher said. “Together, we’ll develop new models of care and our clinicians can deliver better outcomes for patients by harnessing cutting edge technology like the hyperfine MRI."
Even more excitingly, we will amplify our findings and deliver better outcomes for patients, irrespective of location, through the NSW Telestroke Service.
Ken is also Medical Director of NSW Telestroke Service and Director Clinical Neuroscience at UNSW’s School of Clinical Medicine. His research as part of a $21.7 million NSW Telestroke Service has made a huge difference for more than 3,000 patients who suffered a stroke in rural and regional NSW. The NSW Telestroke Service partners with 23 rural and regional hospitals by bringing expert medical care more quickly to people who suffer strokes. It provides 24/7 access to life-saving stroke diagnosis and treatment, connecting patients and local doctors with a network of specialist stroke physicians via video consultation, managed by Prince of Wales Hospital. In the ASB, students will continue to develop Artificial Intelligence algorithms designed to automatically quantify brain imaging changes in Telestroke patients, which in turn can be used to guide clinical decision making for regional stroke patients. Pictured above: Professor Ken Butcher. Pictured below: Artificial Intelligence based automated measurement of a haemorrhagic stroke seen on brain CT scan.
Published February 2024