BioGrid history: a look back in time – 11 May 2009 

Sixteen years ago this month, a major change was enacted for the former Molecular Medicine Information Model (MMIM) project, which had been established in late 2003 by clinicians then at the Royal Melbourne Hospital: Peter Gibbs, Peter Colman and Terry O’Brien. They had seen the potential of creating a way to safely and securely access distributed clinical data sets for research, which resulted in BioGrid’s unique federated model.

MMIM became a company limited by guarantee with 18 founding members, and BioGrid’s new collaboration agreement was signed by those 18 members on 11 May 2009.

The collaboration agreement was a significant achievement, replacing the former MMIM agreement and creating the structures and processes required to support the expansion of members and data sources. It provided the foundation for the future sustainability of the BioGrid Australia data linkage platform.

BioGrid Australia was led by founding Board Chair Bryan Williams, with Julian Clark and Rob Merriel the other founding Board Directors.

That year, led by Peter Gibbs, BioGrid partnered with Roche on a prospective study into clinical outcomes of Bevacizumab use in metastatic colorectal cancer (TRACC). Another project, led by Terry O'Brien, resulted in a multigenetic predictive model for the treatment of epilepsy (developed with support of BioGrid) being patented.

We’ve come such a long way since then, and we’ve built a strong community of like-minded people with a shared goal to improve health outcomes for the Australian community. We look forward to embracing new technologies and collaborations whatever the future holds.

Read more about BioGrid’s 20 year journey as a leader in Australian health informatics.

View the BioGrid Australia 20th Anniversary videos, screened at BioGrid's 20th Anniversary Celebration on 26 November 2024, featuring interviews with key people in BioGrid's 20 year history.

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