Funded by an Alcoa Foundation grant, Aspen Medical Foundation works closely with First Medical Union (FMU), the largest health system in Ukraine and the leading rehabilitation site in the country. FMU’s Unbroken project is at the forefront of providing essential services, including reconstructive surgery, orthopaedics, robotic prosthetics, and comprehensive physical, psychological, and psychosocial rehabilitation.

The grant from Alcoa Foundation will enable the procurement of quality prosthetic limbs, tailored to meet individual needs, and facilitate a comprehensive training program for FMU rehabilitation professionals. This project goes beyond the immediate relief of physical disabilities; it is an investment in the long-term resilience and well-being of the affected individuals and their communities.

The Aspen Medical Foundation has partnered with Malpa since 2014 to provide funding for the Young Doctors Program.

For thousands of years the Ngangkari – the traditional Aboriginal healers in Central Australia – have passed on their skills to young children. The idea of children being “doctors” is deeply embedded in Indigenous culture and life. Now this idea is getting a new injection of life with the Young Doctors project. The project employs respected community members to teach the traditional ways and the contemporary ways of creating healthy communities to Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. The Children become health leaders to their younger peers and their community.

In 2021, the Aspen Medical Foundation provided a grant to Professor Trollor at University of NSW to conduct research into people with intellectually disabilities, with a focus on Down Syndrome.

The research examines the period and annualised standard prevalence of (any and serious) mental health conditions in people with intellectual disability (compared to the general population), and the incidence and predictors of cancers by cancer type in people with intellectual disability (compared to the general population).

The funding will support a specific analysis of people with Down syndrome in this work. 

In 2021, the Aspen Medical Foundation donated $25,000 to the University of Newcastle for the following projects:

• Awabakal Aboriginal Medical Services – support with dialysis care.
• Yerin Aboriginal Medical Services – response to supporting adolescent mental health.
• Community panel to support aboriginal research. 

Through Hands Across Canberra, the Aspen Medical Foundation supports numerous organisations through the Collaborative Grants Round. To date, the Aspen Medical Foundation has supported several local projects, including Fearless Woman, which creates a framework, structure and tools that support young women; Women’s Health Matters, which run post-prison release support programs; and, Mental Health for Mob, which focusses on better Indigenous mental health care in the ACT.      

In 2023, the Aspen Medical Foundation signed a three-year partnership with Mental Illness Education ACT (MIEACT).

MIEACT is the primary local mental health and well-being education provider for workplaces, community groups and secondary schools across the Canberra region and surrounding area.

In 2023, the Aspen Medical Foundation partnered with the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) to create the Lung Cancer Screening Centre of Excellence (LUSCE). 

LUSCE will be a world first mobile multiplatform lung cancer research facility, integrating imaging, computer aided analytics, breath and blood biomarker testing, to determine the most effective way to detect lung cancer early when it can be treated. Findings from this pilot project will be used to support the establishment of a government-funded national lung cancer screening program providing equitable access for all Australians.

Housed on a purpose-built trailer, LUSCE will travel to locations across rural and remote Queensland. The mobile nature of ACRF LUSCE will allow it to reach pockets of rural and remote Queensland, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, where lung cancer rates are disproportionately high.

In 2023, the Aspen Medical Foundation partnered with Clean Slate Clinic to provide services in remote Queensland.

Clean Slate Clinic is a healthcare social enterprise focussed on helping Australians keen to detox from alcohol, safely from home.

Clean Slate Clinic’s mission is to improve the health and wellness of individuals struggling with alcohol dependence and make withdrawal (detox) and recovery services accessible to every Australian who needs them, irrespective of postcode or socio-economic status.