What We Do
The Baird Institute is the only group in Australia dedicated to improving clinical and surgical techniques for heart and lung conditions.
Sadly, in Australia today, diseases of the heart, lungs and blood vessels kill more people than any other disease.
These diseases can affect people of any age and at any time. From your grandparents, your parents, to your brothers and sisters, or even your children. Heart and lung disease can touch any one of us.
And for people with severe coronary heart disease surgery is the predominant treatment.
The surgeons of The Baird Institute have provided countless Australians, like me, with a gift. Something more valuable than most people would ever understand.
Jamie Dallimore, 18 | Read Jamie’s Story Here
The Baird Institute Approach
The late Professor Douglas K Baird saw that there were many problems in surgical practice that require solutions in order to improve survival and patient care.
- Why do some patients have strokes after surgery?
- Why do some patients suffer more pain?
- What is the impact on the family?
- Why do some people die unexpectedly?
His vision was to identify the problem at the bedside, investigate it in the laboratory and apply the solution to future patients.
To achieve this, surgeons need to be as skilled with their minds as they are with their hands (or as sharp as their knives)!
At The Baird Institute we recognise that the more complex patients of today and tomorrow require more complex treatments, and therefore more complex surgeons.
At The Baird Institute we are focused on surgical research and committed to people – ordinary people who have been diagnosed with serious heart or lung conditions that require surgery.
Some current areas of research undertaken by The Baird Institute are:
- Reducing the injury and trauma of heart surgery
- Better ways of looking after older and higher-risk patients
- The genetics of diseases of the aorta
- Manufacturing artificial blood vessels to use as bypass grafts
- The conservation of blood during surgery
- Further research into mesothelioma treatment, specifically “triple therapy” – a treatment strategy that begins with chemotherapy, followed by surgery, and then radiation
To learn more about the amazing research the Biard Institute is currently undertaking have a look at our Research page.
Why Support Baird
Despite major advances in surgical techniques there is comparatively little funding for Australian research that may help the vast majority of patients who need heart or lung surgery.
The Baird Institute receives no government funding and is entirely supported by people like you who understand the vital need for the work we do.
When you decide to become a Baird Benefactor you will be partnering with an organisation that improves the surgical outcomes and quality of life for patients facing heart or lung surgery.
Your contribution funds research that directly improves the surgical techniques associated with heart and lung surgery. Such improvements can include less intrusive procedures as well as techniques that improve survival rates.
How you can help
There are three options for contributions to The Baird Institute.
Donations
Your donation to Baird will directly support our research programs in heart and lung disease surgery. Donations page
Partner in Research
As a partner in research your monthly donation will not only go to funding vital heart and lunch research, but you will receive regular updates on research progress in our Future Focus newsletter as well as invitations to special Baird Institute events. All our Partners in Research also receive a Future Focus program key ring as a token of our appreciation. Donations page
Bequests
By remembering The Baird Institute in your Will you can help secure the future for people who must undergo surgery for heart and lung diseases. So whether large or small, your bequest will be greatly valued, because it will change the lives of people who have such conditions. Bequests Page
