Left to right: Professor Christina Mitchell AO, Adjunct Professor David Kaye, Professor Tom Marwick and Professor Andrew Way AM
A new cardiovascular research centre is bringing together Monash University, the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and Alfred Health to boost opportunities for academic-clinician partnered research and offer new pathways for emerging research talent in the Alfred Research Alliance Precinct.
Launched at the Alfred Innovation & Education Hub, the Monash Alfred Baker Centre for Cardiovascular Research will bring together the combined strengths of the three leading institutions in cardiovascular research and clinical care to deliver innovative solutions for cardiovascular diseases and improve outcomes for patients.
Through the Centre's clinical arm at Alfred Health, the Alfred Heart Centre, clinician-researchers will have access to a diverse range of patients within the health service's 700,000+ catchment area in Melbourne's south, leading to improved knowledge and clinical outcomes in both cardiovascular medicine and cardiothoracic surgery.
The Centre will focus on building the pipeline of clinician-research talent, contributing to Victoria's reputation as the home of Australia's cardiovascular research innovation. The collaborative approach will also improve competitiveness for grant funding opportunities, and strengthen the Precinct's leading position nationally and internationally.
Core capabilities and focus areas include:
- Heart failure, mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation
- Cardiac arrest and shock
- Arrhythmia and cardiac pacing
- Big data and data analytics
- Coronary heart disease
- Medical devices and biomedical engineering
- Advanced cardiac imaging
- Structural heart disease
Director of the Monash Alfred Baker Centre for Cardiovascular Research, Director of the Department of Cardiology at The Alfred and Monash University Adjunct Professor David Kaye said that the new centre would synergise research activities at the Precinct and ensure that everyone's best efforts were maximised. "We look forward to working together to build capacity in clinical research and innovation to ultimately achieve better outcomes for patients and the community," he said.
Alfred Health chief executive Professor Andrew Way AM said that the Centre will bring together experts to nurture the creation of new ideas and innovations that will improve quality of life for many Australians, and also save lives. "I look forward to seeing what this great partnership between a university, research institute and one of Australia's great public health services can achieve," he said.
Director of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Professor Tom Marwick said that the Centre was an important collaboration, formalising a partnership that will bring together the research activities across the Precinct and support a formal pipeline to recruit and retain the best clinician-PhD graduates in cardiovascular research. "Ultimately, our collective hope is to grow cardiovascular clinician research and impact across our Precinct," he said.
