LARA'S Objectives
-
> Education
Promoting knowledge and awareness of LAM to practitioners and women with LAM -
> Information
Providing information for and about women with LAM -
> Support
Providing for the needs of women with LAM -
> Diagnosis
Facilitating diagnosis by raising awareness of LAM -
> Research
Fostering and funding research to discover the cause, cure and prevention of LAM -
> Fundraising
Raising money to support our objectives -
> Networking
Collaborating with countries in our region by exchanging information
Contact Us
LAM Australasia Research Alliance
4/209 Oxford Street
Bondi Junction 2022
T (03) 9751 0070
E admin@lara.org.au
PO Box 636 Bondi Junction NSW 1355
Australia
ABOUT LARA
LARA's mission is to seek a cure for LAM, the rare lung disease, lymphangioleiomyomatosis. Based in Australia and working to strengthen links throughout South East Asia, LARA aims to improve diagnosis of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), educate medical practitioners, support women who have been diagnosed, and fund research to accelerate the discovery of a cure for LAM.
Founded in 2006, the LAM Australasia Research Alliance, LARA, is headed by an Executive and guided by a Medical & Scientific Advisory Board. LARA’s Patron, Bettina Arndt, is a journalist and media personality. Her enthusiastic promotion of LARA’s objectives began with a feature article in The Australian Women’s Weekly (LINK), and inspired an hour-long documentary on women with LAM (LINK). LARA’s President, Heather Telford, and Vice President, Bronwyn Gray (also Director of the New Zealand LAM Trust), represent Australia and New Zealand on the Worldwide LAM Patient Coalition (WLPC), an initiative of the LAM Foundation based in Cinncinati, Ohio. LARA is also represented at international LAM conferences in the USA and Europe.In December 2007, LARA participated in the Asia Pacific Society of Respirology conference on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Current research initiatives are headed by Board members, Prof Judith Black AO, A/Prof Mervyn Merrilees, Dr Helen Whitford, Dr Deborah Yates, Prof David Sonnabend and Dr Jeff Lindenmayer.
LARA is run voluntarily basis by a small group of women with close links to LAM.
FOSTERING LINKS
Focusing on countries in our Asia Pacific region, including Indonesia, China and Japan, LARA is working to strengthen our links with LAM organisations worldwide, LARA belongs to the Worldwide LAM Patient Coalition (WLPC), a recent initiative of the LAM Foundation. (www.thelamfoundation.org/mission-and-history/wlpc.html)
LARA benefits from the experience of Vice President, Bronwyn Gray, who is also Director of the New Zealand LAM Trust. She has worked hard over many years to educate physicians and the public about LAM and to raise funds for research and education.If we can improve rates of diagnosis so more cases are identified, vital research and clinical trials will get a boost.
CHARITABLE STATUS
LARA is recognised as a charity for the purposes of tax deductibility. Funds raised by women with LAM and through the Henry Roth Foundation and Victorian Department of Human Services are essential to our efforts to discover treatments and, ultimately, a cure for LAM.MAIL DONATIONS TO:
LAM Australasia Research Alliance
PO BOX 636, Bondi Junction NSW 1355, Australia
All donations over $2 are acknowledged with a receipt for tax purposes.
Patron: Bettina Arndt
Social commentator, author and feature writer, Bettina Arndt trained as a clinical psychologist and became well known in the 1970s as one of Australia’s first sex therapists. Bettina Arndt has served on government committees looking into family law issues, child support, ageing, IVF and childcare, and spent many years on the ANU Council.
Click here to read a message from BettinaLARA's EXECUTIVE
| President Heather Telford | Treasurer Annette Hicks |
| Vice President Brownyn Gray (Director New Zealand LAM Trust) | Patron Bettina Arndt |
| Secretary Janet Neustein | Public Officer Peter Kelso |
LARA's MEDICAL & SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
LAM experts from Australia and New Zealand. Australia | New Zealand |
| Prof Judith Black AO Department of Pharmacology University of Sydney NSW | Prof Innes Asher Professor of Pediatrics Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences |
| A/Prof Allan Glanville St Vincents Hospital Sydney NSW | A/Prof John Kolbe Head of Department Respiratory Services Auckland City Hospital Auckland |
| Dr Deborah Yates Respiratory Physician St Vincents Hospital Sydney NSW | Dr John McLauchlan Respiratory Physician Waikato Hospital Hamilton |
| Dr Jeff Lindenmayer General Practioner Selby Family Clinic Selby VIC | A/Prof Mervyn Merrilees Dept of Medial and Health Sciences Division of Anatomy and Radiology University of Auckland |
| Dr Abe Rubinfield Respiratory Physician Royal Melbourne Hospital Melbourne VIC | Dr Margaret Wilsher Dept of Respiratory Medicine Auckland CIty Hospital, Park, Rd Auckland |
| Prof Greg Snell The Alfred Hospital Melbourne VIC | Dr Christina Forster General Practitioner Freemans Bay Medical Centre Auckland |
| Prof David Sonnabend University of Sydney Royal North Shore Hospital NSW | |
| Dr Helen Whitford Respiratory Physician The Alfred Hospital Melbourne VIC | |