The Australian Twin Registry (ATR) is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates and supports medical and scientific studies, which involve the participation of twins and/or their relatives. These studies build upon the special characteristics of twins to address questions of health and well-being relevant to all Australians. To facilitate these studies, the ATR maintains a national register of twin pairs and their relatives who are willing to consider participating in health related research. Twins are able to help researchers study the impact of genetic and environmental factors on health and the treatment and prevention of disease.

The ATR was established as a national registry with support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in 1981. Over the three decades of its operations, the ATR’s objectives, policies, and procedures have undergone a maturation process, and continue to be refined in line with developments in research methodologies. As an openly shared resource for twin researchers, the ATR has been able to play a role in fostering the development of synergistic research programs and has become a model for integrating public health and biomedical research. ATR continues to receive funding support from the NHMRC, which is now provided through an Enabling Grant, awarded to specific facilities and/or activities to enhance the national health and medical research effort.

The Australian Twin Registry (ATR) is administered through the University of Melbourne and managed by a Director, Professor John Hopper and two Deputy Directors, Dr Debra Foley (Research) and Paul White (Informatics). Under the requirements of the NHMRC Enabling Grant Committee, the governance structure and access policy of the ATR was reviewed. An independent Advisory Board was instituted in 2005, chaired by one of the ATR twin members, and functions under an agreed Charter.

The ATR is affiliated with the Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA), Western Australian Twin Child Health Cohort (WATCH Cohort), and the Western Australian Twin Registry (WATR).