Thanks to the National Health and Medical research Council of Australia, we are funded to look at specific associations between specific alleles and mental health profiles, and this study has the potential to delivery major improvements in our understanding of child mental health. Further, it has the potential to help establish Australia as a leader in the genetic bases of mental health.

Surprisingly though, UNSW, NSW and even Australia as a whole, does not have research capacity in molecular genetics and child mental health. People with skills in this area could be counted on one hand. This means that we are not getting as much from existing data sets as we should, but worse, new graduates with advanced skills in this area are not being trained.

Australia desperately needs to build capacity by establishing specialist positions in molecular genetics, bioinformatics, and child mental health. This would possibly mean bringing in some expertise from overseas until capacity is built. These positions could be at levels ranging from post-doctoral positions (approximately $90,000 per year for 3 years) to full professorial positions (approximately $180,000 per year usually for 5 years), and could carry the name of the benefactor.