ABSTRACT
General practice research in Australia began formally with the establishment in the mid-1970s of academic departments of community medicine that subsequently morphed into departments of general practice. Federal government funding specific to research in general practice was provided via the General Practice Evaluation Program, operating in the 1990s. This programme funded 248 projects, 13" of which were interventions studies. Current research activity includes the nine Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute Centres of Research Excellence concentrating on chronic disease care in indigenous, rural and remote populations, transforming access to care, urban Aboriginal child health, primary oral healthcare, obesity management and prevention, the finance and economics of Primary Health Care (PHC), microsystem integration, and PHC care in rural and remote Australia. Two big challenges for primary care research are funding and research career pathways; nevertheless, progress is happening towards responding to both.
