Melbourne hospital’s ACMD merges clinical care and medical research

The site spans 11 floors with 4500 sq.m. of research space.

Australia opened the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD) on 11 June, its first hospital-based medical discovery centre in Melbourne.

The centre—located at the St Vincent’s Fitzroy Health and Innovation Precinct—is aimed at accelerating the development of medical technologies by co-locating clinicians, researchers, industry partners, and engineers within a single facility.

The project cost $146.1m (AU$206m), funded through $63.8m (AU$90m) from Victorian and Commonwealth governments, $61.0m (AU$86m) from partner organisations, and additional philanthropic contributions.

ACMD spans 11 floors with about 4,500 square metres of research space.

The facility includes 31 laboratories, engineering workshops, 3D printing facilities, a human kinetics laboratory, a clinical simulation lab, and education facilities, which can accommodate up to 900 researchers.

Two floors also house the University of Melbourne Clinical School, which trains up to 300 doctors a year.

The facility operates as a partnership between St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (SVHM), Australian Catholic University, Bionics Institute, RMIT University, St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Swinburne University of Technology, and the University of Melbourne.

Chris Blake, CEO of St Vincent’s Health Australia, said the centre will link research and clinical care within the hospital precinct.

“With the ACMD located in our Fitzroy Health and Innovation precinct, SVHM will be the translational playground where innovations in medtech, biotech, and digital are brought into practice,” said Nicole Tweddle, CEO of SVHM.

The centre is named after Mary Aikenhead, founder of the Sisters of Charity, who established St Vincent’s. It stands on the site of the former Aikenhead Wing, previously used for nurse training.

(US$1 = AU$1.41)