Bob and the late Jack Ingham, of Ingham Enterprises, based in Liverpool, had a desire 16 years ago to give something back to the local community.
Their wish has been fulfilled with the official launch of the $50 million state-of-the-art Ingham Institute for Medical Research by Prime Minister, Julia Gillard,
John Ingham, son of Bob Ingham, said the desire for the family to give something back to the local community originated in 1995.
“My father’s mother was very ill in Liverpool Hospital and the care, commitment and dedication of all the hospital staff so impressed then that Bob and Jack decided that this was where they would like to make a personal bequest,” he said.
Prime Minster Julie Gillard said Australia was the home of many breakthroughs and that she believed the institute was “firmly in the race” to become the custodian of the next big breakthrough.
“There is no law of nature that says that great medical research institutions, that great hospitals and great health care have to be in the inner city,” she told hundreds of scientists, business people and public health officials at the launch.
“I’m glad we could help along the way with $46.9 million of Australian government funding; we are in the market for good ideas and this was a great idea whose time had come,” she said. The world-class facility has a focus on seven disease areas that impact the population in Sydney’s south west.
The facility includes a high tech research bunker containing an Australian first and one of three in the world, the cancer therapy MRI-Linac, an MRI coupled with a Linear accelerator.
The institute, a collaboration between the South Western Sydney Local Health District, the University of Western Sydney and the University of NSW, has 200 researchers, a number which could increase to 300 people.
