22 September 2026
Statement from WEHI director, Professor Ken Smith:
Australia’s medical research sector is facing significant funding and sustainability challenges, and WEHI is not immune to those pressures. Like many research institutes, we have experienced budget deficits in recent years as the gap between the cost of conducting world-class research and available funding continues to grow.
Importantly, WEHI is not at risk of insolvency. Recognising the need to address these challenges, we embarked on a significant transformation program in recent years to strengthen our long-term financial sustainability. That program is delivering results, with continued improvement in our financial performance as a result of the measures to manage costs, improve operational efficiency and diversify revenue sources. These measures are reducing our deficit while enabling continued investment in our scientific capability and impact.
While these changes have included some workforce reductions and organisational restructure, they have been carefully implemented to protect and strengthen our scientific capability. We are continuing to recruit outstanding new scientific talent and there has been no reduction in the number of laboratory heads, research laboratories or the cutting-edge platforms that underpin our science.
As part of a broader organisational redesign, WEHI has streamlined its scientific structure from 12 divisions to four. This was a leadership and reporting-line change designed to improve collaboration and operational efficiency, and did not involve the closure of scientific laboratories.
WEHI remains a world-leading medical research institute with a strong scientific pipeline and a clear strategy for the future. We are continuing to invest in the people, technology and research capabilities that will drive the next generation of discoveries and breakthroughs.
We also need to address broader structural issues across a research system that is heavily reliant on short-term funding cycles and does not fully support the true cost of research. The development of a National Health and Medical Research Strategy is an important step towards a more sustainable, coordinated and globally competitive research sector, and WEHI will continue working with our partners across the sector to help drive that agenda.
Ultimately, this is about ensuring Australians continue to benefit from the discoveries and breakthroughs that come from investing in world-class medical research at home. If Australia wants to remain a nation driving homegrown medical breakthroughs, we must continue to back the research that makes them possible.
