The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) is pleased to announce the talented 2010 recipients of two prestigious awards - the Girdlers' New Zealand HRC Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Foxley Fellowship - which will provide international career development opportunities for these two promising health researchers.

The 2010 Girdlers' New Zealand HRC Postdoctoral Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Megan Dowie, from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, at The University of Auckland.

The 2010 Foxley Fellowship (sabbatical) has been awarded to Ms Frances Graham, from the Population Health Directorate at the Ministry of Health, who will conduct her research at the University of Canterbury.

"We are delighted to support both of these prestigious HRC fellowships, as they will enable these two talented health researchers to conduct original and innovative research, and to work towards becoming New Zealand's health research leaders," says HRC Chief Executive, Dr Robin Olds.

Dr Dowie is a talented young science communicator, whose research will investigate a novel approach to neurodegenerative disorders.

Approximately 20 per cent of New Zealander's will experience a neurological disorder, with the incidence of neurodegenerative conditions increasing. While pathological features of many neurodegenerative diseases are characterised, treatments are still limited.

"My research proposes to investigate a potential common pathway in neurodegeneration," says Dr Dowie. "Specifically, this will be by investigating a peptide derived from acetylcholinesterase, which is the enzyme that degrades acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter integral to brain signalling and particularly linked to Alzheimer's disease."

"I am proposing that regulation of calcium signalling by this peptide may be involved in the selective cell death seen in neurodegenerative diseases. The peptide may be of pivotal significance in the aetiology of Alzheimer's disease (and other neurodegenerative conditions), with potential as an early biomarker and, ultimately, a target for drug development," she says.

Ms Graham's research will assess climate change, health and adapting service demand in relation to the effects of extreme heat in Christchurch. Climate change is expected to generate more extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms and floods. The link between such events and public health is increasingly understood, but little is known about the adaptive capacity of hospital services in urban areas to respond to these new healthcare demands.

"Given New Zealand's relatively high exposure to climate extremes, the social, economic and health benefits of better managed hospital services are significant," says Ms Graham.

Her research will investigate the risks posed by hospital services to effective healthcare delivery (models of care) during heat-induced extreme weather events using the city of Christchurch as a case study. The analysis will be based on data collected for hospital admissions, meteorological variables, such as temperature, wind speed/direction, and humidity, and an assessment of the adaptive capacity of two Christchurch hospitals.

The outcome will be evidence-based adaptation strategies to lessen the impact on service demand of healthcare facilities during extreme heat-induced events.