Cardiovascular | Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research

Cardiovascular is one of the Research Centres at Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research.

Why we’re researching cardiovascular

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading single cause of death in Australia. It’s a significant contributor to the mortality gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and to increased morbidity in the ethnically and culturally diverse population of South Western Sydney (SWS).

Local needs

The number of residents with CVD in SWS is projected to increase by 38% by 2031
The highest increase is expected in Camden and Liverpool LGAs (56% and 38.5%) respectively
The number of residents with coronary heart disease (CHD) in SWS is projected to increase by 60% between 2016 and 2031.

National significance

In 2022, Australians lost an estimated 670,000 years of healthy life due to all forms of CVD
CHD was the leading individual cause of burden for males
CVD was responsible for 19% of the total gap in disease burden between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

Global impacts

Cardiovascular diseases accounted for 20.5 million deaths in 2021
More than half a billion people around the world continue to be affected by cardiovascular diseases
Over three quarters of CVD deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries

Prof of Medicine UNSW & WSU Conjoint, Director of Cardiovascular Research, Director of Coronary Care Unit Liverpool Hospital

Prof. John French

View Profile

Cardiovascular Research

Better outcomes

Collaborations

Early career research grants

Higher Degree Students

Current Clinical Trials

Cardiovascular Research

Cardiovascular Research & Improving Cardiovascular Outcomes Network (ICON)

The establishment of ICON, with accompanying growth in research-led practice, aims to support our district-wide service to respond to the expected ongoing growth of new and more complex cardiovascular cases.

We aim to develop newer therapies and better care models, ultimately improving mortality rates and long-term patient outcomes.

Research Group Co-Leaders

Prof Craig Juergens & Prof John French

Executive Leadership

Dr Mehtab Ahmad
Professor Kal Asrress
Professor Bronwyn Everett
Associate Professor Rebecca Dignan
Associate Professor Hany Dimitri
Dr Kishor Kadappu
Professor Dominic Leung
Dr Melissa Leung
Dr Sidney Lo

Better outcomes

Not only do we expect improved patient outcomes broadly, but with specific research investments in Aboriginal and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) patient groups, we can create targeted programs that will see mortality rates and outcomes align with our larger patient cohort.

Our focus

Our academic focus is on innovation and bringing new and existing technologies and procedures to our patients. Our key strengths include:

the groups’ work in imaging research, predominantly in echocardiography
Acute Coronary Syndrome/ Percutaneous Coronary Intervention research

Track record

We have a strong track record of participating in clinical research, both industry-supported trials and outcomes research studies, as well as local, national and international investigator-initiated trials and outcomes research studies. We hope to build on this through our involvement with Ingham Institute.

Reliable data

We also focus on collecting reliable data for use in quality assurance projects and ensuring a transformative experience for our patients, particularly those high-risk individuals from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds and a large number of CALD patients.

Strong culture

We have a strong culture of teaching and education through our association with the Universities of NSW and Western Sydney. We’ve had at least 20 successful higher degrees via research (HDR) students. We hope to build on this and provide additional opportunities for post-graduate education for postdoctoral Nursing, Science and Medical research student candidates.

Collaborations

Our unit actively collaborates with:

medical oncology
radiation oncology
haematology
endocrinology (diabetes)
Centre for Oral Health Outcomes and Research Translation (COHORT) and oral health services

In recent times, we’ve reached out to the Translational Health Research Institute (THRI) at Western Sydney University and hope to collaborate on research projects and potentially offer more options for postgraduate teaching and education.

We have national collaborations, particularly with South Australia (Prof French is a Hon Fellow at the South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute), which includes CIB on the NHMRC-funded ACT-2 trial, and internationally via the WNICR group led by the University of Toronto, and national leader of the STREAM-2 trial.

Early career research grants

We’ve supported two early career research grants:

Dr James Xu, who is studying ways to improve coronary microcirculation using the index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) in the setting of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS)
Ms Xian Zhou, who is studying the nutraceuticals, curcumin and resveratrol and their potential ability to protect the endothelium against oxidative stress using cellular assays and animal models

We’ve also employed a research nurse to assess the outcomes of patients undergoing cardiovascular procedures.

We are site investigators in a number of large-scale clinical trials.

Higher Degree Students

We have five higher-degree students working with us.

Current Clinical Trials

This is a list of our current clinical trials.