Meet the People Driving Cardiovascular Innovation

Jason graduated from University of Melbourne Medical School in 1994, and then undertook residency and cardiology training at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. Jason then completed a PhD at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI), followed by a postdoc at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Jason holds the position of the Robert M. Graham Chair and Professor of Cardiovascular Research at University of NSW and is also Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA. He is the President of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA), and Co-Chair of the NSW Chapter of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI).

Dr Chloë Flutter has worked extensively across the health system. She was Managing Director & Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, where she ran its Health Care Practice for Australia and New Zealand from 2016 to 2023. She has worked with a wide variety of health care clients, including hospitals and health care providers, private health insurers, public health services, State and Commonwealth departments of health, and for universities and medical research institutes. She also has extensive board experience and is on the boards of Nexus Hospitals, the Australian Sports Commission, and Telstra Health. She is also the President of the Association of Rhodes Scholars in Australia.

Alta Schutte is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at UNSW Sydney, and the Global Co-Director of the Cardiovascular Program at The George Institute for Global Health. Schutte is a recognised leader in the field of raised blood pressure and hypertension, having conceived and led major research programs in Australia and globally. She’s contributed over 500 publications to the scientific literature, and was ranked by The Australian in 2023 and 2024 as the Leading Scientist in Australia in the field of Vascular Medicine. She is an invited author of the Lancet Commission of Hypertension, senior author of the 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Guidelines, and serves as the Co-Chair of the National Hypertension Taskforce of Australia.

Professor Jamie Vandenberg undertook his Medical training at the University of Sydney and his Doctoral training at the University of Cambridge. He returned to Australia in 2002 where he is now head of the Mark Cowley Lidwill Research Program in Cardiac Electrophysiology and co-Deputy Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. His research is focussed on understanding the molecular basis of disorders of heart rhythm and sudden cardiac death.

André completed a PhD at St Vincent’s / University of Melbourne and 4 years of post-doctoral research at the University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium. His research and clinical work focuses on the effect of exercise on the human heart. He studies the range of health from severe heart and lung disease to elite athletic performance having pioneered novel imaging techniques including exercise cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and contrast echocardiography.

Professor Natasha Lannin is the Lead of the Monash University Brain Recovery and Rehabilitation Research Group. Her main research focus is rehabilitation, with a focus on reducing disability and improving life after stroke. She is an occupational therapist with a clinical academic appointment at Alfred Health. Natasha maintains a strong research interest in developing and improving treatments for stroke to address impairments (motor, cognition), participation limitations (work, driving) and independence. She is passionate about promoting the benefits of rehabilitation within the cardiovascular community, and supporting the careers and opportunities for women working in clinical trial research, particularly those from an allied health background. Natasha has obtained funding from major competitive granting bodies (including the NHMRC, MRFF, and Heart Foundation) and has published over 300 peer-review papers.

Christopher Reid is a cardiovascular epidemiologist and Research Professor at Curtin and Monash Universities. Re-appointed as a John Curtin Distinguished Professor in 2021, he directs the Monash and Curtin Centres of Cardiovascular Research and Education. Chris has secured over $178M in funding as Chief Investigator and received continuous NHMRC support since 2001. His research spans clinical trials, outcome registries, and cohort studies, with over 740 publications in top journals. Chris is a Chief Investigator on major trials including ASPREE, COLCOT-T2D, LEADER-PAD and Aspire HCC.

Professor Gemma Figtree AM is an interventional cardiologist and internationally recognised leader in cardiovascular research. A Rhodes Scholar with a DPhil from Oxford, she leads major national and global initiatives targeting early detection and prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). She chairs the $220M MRFF Cardiovascular Mission and is Chief Scientific Officer of the not-for-profit CAD Frontiers. She has attracted over $42M in competitive funding and led the world-first description of “SMuRFless” coronary artery disease. Her work has driven new clinical pathways, diagnostics, and industry partnerships. She holds multiple patents and serves on leading editorial boards, earning numerous national awards and fellowships.

Professor John Fraser AO MB ChB PhD FRCP(Glas) FFARCSI FCICM FELSO, is Founder and Director of the Critical Care Research Group; Director of the Intensive Care Unit at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital; Founder and Chief Medical Officer of De Motu Cordis Pty Ltd; and Immediate Past President of the Asia Pacific ELSO Chapter. John has 5 professorships across major Australian universities; has published over 750 publications; and has received >AUD120 million in competitive grants. In 2025, John was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to medicine as an intensive care physician and surgeon, and to global critical care research. In 2018, John was also awarded the Australian Society of Medical Research Clinical Research Award.

Professor Peter Meikle is a Senior Principal Research Fellow, Co-Lead of the Obesity and Metabolic Diseases Program and Head of the Metabolomics Laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. He is a Director of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance and in 2022 was appointed as the inaugural Head of the Baker Department of Cardiovascular Research, Translation and Implementation at La Trobe University. His research has a focus on the dysregulation of lipid metabolism associated with metabolic diseases including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease, and its relationship to the pathogenesis of these disease states. This work is leading to new approaches to early diagnosis and risk assessment, and to the development of new lipid modulating therapies for chronic disease.

"Prof Peter Psaltis is an NHF- and NHMRC-funded interventional cardiologist and vascular biologist, who holds Faculty positions at SAHMRI, CALHN and the University of Adelaide. He is the Deputy Director of SAHMRI, co-leads its largest research department, the Lifelong Health Theme, and leads its Heart and Vascular Program. Concurrently, he is also Head of Interventional Cardiology, Royal Adelaide Hospital. Peter has expertise across all three disciplines of basic, translational, and clinical research and leads bench-to-bedside projects spanning topics of developmental macrophage biology, vascular stem cells, inflammatory regulation of atherosclerosis, pharmacological modification of atherosclerosis, coronary plaque imaging, the modelling of biomechanical forces in coronary arteries and cardiometabolic disease."

Rochelle Wynne is the Professorial Chair in Nursing in the Western Health, Deakin University partnership. She has been a Registered Nurse since 1991 and is an active clinical researcher. Leading a program of research in chronic cardiovascular disease, her work examines the interaction between patient participation and acute care workforce on patient outcomes. A quantitative researcher with methods expertise in risk prediction modelling, propensity analyses and implementation science, projects in her research program lead to translational outcomes across Western Health, Nationally and Internationally. Prof Wynne has published >130 peer reviewed articles, 30% with international collaborators, 60.6% in the top 10% of journals and 35.5% in the top 10% most cited worldwide. She has led or co-authored works presented at >130 conferences in her career, supervised 22 higher degree students and created collaborative opportunities for nurses on inter-disciplinary teams completing more than 250 clinical research projects.