Expansion underway at WANRI

Roger Hussey has joined the Western Australian Neuroscience Research Institute (WANRI) as its new chairman and Dr David Blacker has joined the institute as its new medical director.

New leaders at WANRI, chairman Roger Hussey (left) and medical director David Blacker.

Together with three new board members who started in mid-2014, the two appointments add to the expansion taking place at WANRI.

According to WANRI CEO Steve Arnott, the institute plans to double the size of its research team over the next five years, along with expanding the facility.

"We have an ambitious vision for the future, one that puts WANRI, and in turn Western Australia, on the world stage as a centre of excellence in neurology research," said Arnott in a statement.

Hussey was previously chairman of the Princess Margaret Children's Hospital and the PMH Child Health Research Institute (now Telethon Kids Institute). He currently serves on two government enterprise corporations, as chairman of the Southern Ports Authority and deputy chair of Landgate, and on the Bali Eye Humanitarian Foundation in Indonesia.

Blacker is a neurologist and stroke physician at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Adjunct Clinical Professor of  Neurology at the University of Western Australia. He has a longstanding association with WANRI as an Honorary Research Fellow and is active in shaping policy on neurological care