Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Garvan Research Foundation (Garvan) are committed to ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information. Garvan complies with privacy laws in relation to the management of personal information.

How Garvan collects and handles your personal information

We usually collect your personal information directly from you when you make a donation, register for an event, or when you have contact with us in person, over the phone or via the internet. In some circumstances we may also collect information about you from third parties, but will only do so where permitted by law. Generally, the personal information we collect about you may include your name, address, telephone numbers, e-mail address, your research areas of interest, event attendance, payment and donation (including credit card) details. We use this information to send you receipts and for any other purpose required by law.  We may also use this information for the following purposes:

Typically, Garvan sends two to three appeal letters a year as well as three issues of our newsletter, 

. We also send out information about our free disease information seminars and e-newsletters. 

You may choose what you receive at any time.

If you do not wish us to use your personal information for any of the above purposes please contact us by telephone, mail, email or fax.

Where necessary, we may disclose your personal details to external contractors (such as companies who assist with our mail-outs or research and IT service providers). We do not disclose personal information to third parties overseas. However, we do store some personal information on servers owned by companies based in the US.

Unless you ask us not to do so, we may mention the names of our financial supporters in the presentation of research by our scientists, in the Garvan Annual Report and on our Honour Board.

We may also disclose your personal information to third parties where you have consented or we are entitled or required to do so under law.

We take all reasonable steps to ensure the security of the personal information we hold from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We maintain computer and network security by using firewalls, user identifiers and passwords to control access to our computer system. Paper records are stored in locked filing cabinets in secure areas. Donations and registrations made on the Garvan website use SSL security and credit card data is stored using PCI compliant systems.

. The use of cookies on our Websites allows

us to track usage patterns and to compile data in an aggregated and 'non-user' specific form enabling us to improve our website for future visitors. If you elect to become an online community user (for instance through signing up for our e-news or by creating an online fundraising page) cookies are used to remember you and to track your usage of our website. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to deny or accept the cookie feature. The use of pixel tags on our Websites allows us to track traffic patterns on the Websites. They may also be used to determine the habits of our email recipients. For instance, if you sign up for our e-news, pixel tags may be used to determine whether those emails are viewed and what content in those emails is viewed. This information may be linked to your IP address. The information obtained by us through the use of cookies, pixel tags and similar technologies may be used for marketing purposes in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Where lawful and practical, you will be given the option to deal with us without identifying yourself. You should be aware that contact details are required in order for the Garvan to issue a tax-deductible receipt and to register you for events or tours. We try to recognise the contributions of our supporters, however if you wish to remain anonymous in our publications, please contact us using the details provided in the “How to contact us” section below and we shall respect your wishes.

Accessing and updating your personal information

You may request to access the personal information that we hold about you. We will provide you with access, free of charge, in accordance with applicable privacy laws including the Australian Privacy Principles. We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up-to-date whenever we use it. If you find that your personal information is not accurate, or is incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us so that we can amend our records.

Changing your details and informing us of your preferences

To change your details, choose which communications you receive or choose how we may disclose your personal information, please contact us. 

If you do not contact us and you have not previously made your wishes known to us, we will assume that you agree to Garvan using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this policy.

For queries on how your personal information is collected or used, or any other query relating to the Garvan Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

If you believe that Garvan has not complied with its obligations under the Privacy Act, please contact us using the same details as supplied above if in writing, telephone or fax, or via email at 

If you are not satisfied with the decision Garvan makes regarding your complaint you may 

The contact details for the Information Commissioner are:

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 2999
Canberra ACT 2601
Australia
Phone: 1300 363 992
Fax: 02 9284 9666
Website: 

This Privacy Policy was last updated in March 2023.