The Gilmore Centre for Rural Health Improvement has won a $210,000 funding boost awarded in recognition of innovation and excellence in health and medical research.

Funding details of the competitive NSW Health Infrastructure Grants Program were released by Health Minister Craig Knowles last week, where 15 public health research organisations will share in $5.37 million over the next three years.

"The grants have been allocated to research organisations of statewide significance with a track record of innovation and excellence in health and medical research," Mr Knowles said.

"They are directed at organisations conducting research concerned with population health, social determinants of health, health economics and the organisation and delivery of health services. The value of health research cannot be underestimated."

The Gilmore Centre, based at Charles Sturt University's Wagga Campus, was awarded $210,000 ($70,000 per year for the next three years) to aid its work on improving the health, well-being and access to health care of rural and remote populations, through encouraging research, development education and training.

The centre's objectives also include developing expertise in consumer research and consumer education in the rural health field; undertaking entrepreneurial activities with academic and business partners in the university sector, the health industry and the community; and developing partnerships with rural doctors involved with delivering rehabilitation and injury prevention services.

Gilmore Centre executive officer Shanthi Ramanathan welcomed the grant and said the funding, together with financial support from CSU, would enable the centre to continue its work and develop a research culture within the health sector in rural NSW, well into the new millennium.

The Gilmore Centre, formerly the CSU site of the Australian Rural Health Research Institute, has succeeded in attracting more than $2.5 million in research grants and consultancies nationally over the past three years.

Centre director Peter Dunn - currently in Indonesia as part of a CSU and Australian Business Health Ltd consortium working on AusAid contracts to assist Indonesian health service management - said he was thrilled to hear of the funding.

"It's a real boost for rural NSW, which usually attracts such a low level of investment in research infrastructure," he said.

"We aim to use this money to attract more research dollars to regional areas."