Monash-Alfred-Baker join forces to improve heart health
Image: 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 today 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.
For more information about the Monash Alfred Baker Centre for Cardiovascular Research, visit their website.
About Alfred Health
Alfred Health is one of Australia’s leading healthcare services. They have a dual role: caring for more than 700,000 locals who live in inner-southern Melbourne; and providing health services for Victorians experiencing the most acute and complex conditions through 18 statewide services. Their three hospital campuses – The Alfred, Caulfield Hospital and Sandringham Hospital – as well as numerous community based clinics, provide lifesaving treatments, specialist and rehabilitation services through to accessible local healthcare.
For more information, visit their website
About The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute is an independent, internationally renowned medical research facility, with a history spanning more than 97 years. The Institute's work extends from the laboratory to wide-scale community studies with a focus on diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and associated metabolic diseases.
For more information, visit their website
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
For more news, visit Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences or Monash University.
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