The vision of the Siganto family has created a legacy of giving that spans the generations and is now enabling advances in dementia research.
When the late Dr Bill Siganto AM and Dr Marie Siganto AM established the Siganto Family Foundation two decades ago as a private ancillary fund, their vision was to create a vehicle for their family to support the arts, education and community needs.
Bill built a successful Queensland business and was deeply involved in vocational training, and Marie was a leader in the arts community.
They supported many organisations, particularly in their later years, through deep engagement and financial support.
Their foresight continues to shape the Foundation’s work today.
Now chaired by their grandson, Jack Coghlan, the Foundation has built a strong track record of funding research, scholarships and other areas that align with their family’s interests.
The Foundation has extended its support to dementia research, shaped by the family’s own experience with the disease.
Jack’s mother, Lisa Siganto, explains that when her mother, Marie, was diagnosed with dementia, she wanted to improve her understanding of the disease and learn how to support Marie to live with it.
Lisa enrolled in the world-renowned Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre (WDREC) free massive open online course (MOOC).
Dementia is the leading cause of death for Australians. While it can happen to anyone, it’s more common after the age of 65.
It’s a group of illnesses that cause a progressive decline in a person’s function, including loss of memory, intellect and physical functioning.
Wicking aims to help us improve our understanding of dementia and create evidence-based care through world-leading research. It also seeks to reduce dementia risk and educate the community.
Lisa’s experience inspired the Siganto Family Foundation to support Wicking by establishing career development opportunity scholarships for PhD students studying dementia.
“It’s been amazing to see how the funding has enabled the students to pursue a range of opportunities that may not have been possible otherwise,” Lisa said.
Recent recipients of the Siganto Foundation Higher Degree Research Career Development Scholarship in Dementia Research include Getachew Yitbarek and Stephanie Hutt.
Getachew’s research is on the link between frailty, when the body becomes weaker and less able to bounce back from illness, and dementia.
Stephanie’s work focuses on improving our understanding of the microglia, specialised immune cells that live in the brain.
The scholarship will help her learn to grow mini three-dimensional brain tissues (brain organoids) from human stem cells, thereby fast-tracking dementia research.
Laura De Paoli and Amy Coates were the 2024/25 recipients of Siganto’s scholarships.
Amy recently spoke about the impact of the family’s support on her research, which explores strategies to support dementia risk reduction through behaviour change.
“Scholarships offer a quiet, powerful kind of belief: that our work matters, that we can grow into our potential, and that we’ll use the opportunity to do something meaningful. They also remind us that we’re part of something bigger – a legacy, a tradition, a community with a shared belief in the power of research to make the world a better place.”
Laura De Paoli has also benefited from scholarships as she pursued her goal of conducting research to improve the quality of life of people living with dementia.
Laura’s PhD investigates blood biomarkers that may help diagnose dementia earlier and track disease progression and the effectiveness of therapeutics.
“The Siganto Scholarship gave me an opportunity for career development by enabling my visit to a research lab in New Zealand, where I learnt new techniques and formed connections with international researchers in our field.”
Laura De Paoli
She said that without their support, she wouldn’t have submitted her final manuscript late last year with as much experience, or as many skills or connections, which will help with her future career prospects.
“I want to say thank you,” she said.
“Your support changes lives, both for researchers you support and for the people who will benefit from our work.”
Banner - Recipients of the Siganto Family Foundation Higher Degree Research Development Scholarship, Laura De Paoli and Amy Coates Image: Peter W Allen
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