The 2019 Women and Heart Disease Forum was held in Sydney on 19 June, presented by the National Heart Foundation in collaboration with The George Institute for Global Health.

The 2019 Women and Heart Disease Forum brought together leaders in clinical care, research, community health leaders and women who have experienced heart disease to describe issues and develop strategies to improve women’s heart health. The event identified emerging opportunities to impact on women’s heart health trajectories using a life course approach, as well as assess the need for a gender and sex perspective in relation to the experience of heart disease in women as well as to research and cardiology professions.

The one-day forum highlighted emerging research and clinical advances from across medical disciplines, to shine a light on the prevention, treatment and management of heart disease among women.

Professor Robyn Norton AO, Principal Director of The George Institute for Global Health gave the keynote speech: Change of Heart: a move to sex and gender disaggregated cardiovascular research and practice across the life course.

The George Institute’s Dr Amanda Henry, Dr Clare Arnott and Dr Rosemary Wyber also gave presentations on hypertension in pregnancy, spontaneous coronary artery dissection and on rheumatic heart disease.

Heart disease is the leading killer of Australian women, but it continues to be under-recognised, under-researched, and under-treated.

It can also be an invisible killer – often going unnoticed and not openly talked about. In Australia, heart disease continues to take the lives of 22 women every day – with nearly three times as many women dying from heart disease as from breast cancer.

Professor Vlado Perkovic, Executive Director of The George Institute, Australia, takes on the role of President of The Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI).

Professor Perkovic was formally appointed as President of AAMRI on 27th November 2018, taking over from Professor Tony Cunningham AO, Executive Director of The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, who was in the role for two years.

“In Australia, we are fortunate to have a wealth of research talent, strong infrastructure and an array of forward-thinkers, which combine to ensure that we are delivering the best health outcomes for individuals and communities,” said Professor Perkovic.

“I’ve spent my entire career working towards achieving longer and healthier lives, for people here in Australia and globally. Working with AAMRI, I’m looking forward to ensuring Australia’s investment in health through the NHMRC, MRFF and other programmes leads to better outcomes for all Australians. I am also proud of our international status as a research leader, and am committed to ensuring we continue to grow our contribution.” he said. 

Professor Robyn Norton AO, Principal Director of The George Institute, says it is fantastic recognition of Vlado’s expertise and reputation, both nationally and internationally, for driving research that delivers maximum impact for people in Australia and around the world. “I am sure Vlado will play a critical role in ensuring that Australia’s MRIs continue to produce world class and translational research. He is a great leader and will be instrumental in retaining and inspiring our very best researchers. I am sure that everyone at The George will join me in congratulating Vlado.”

Professor Perkovic said he was excited and honored to be taking on the new role. "It's essential that we support priority-driven research that meets the needs of Australians both now and in the future. This can only be achieved by delivering the highest quality research. In Australia, we are fortunate to have a wealth of research talent. It's vital that we nurture and support researchers by delivering clear career pathways across the spectrum and ensure that funding covers every aspect of their research."

As well as his position at The George Institute, Professor Perkovic is Professor of Medicine at UNSW Sydney, and Staff Specialist in Nephrology at the Royal North Shore Hospital.

He leads several international clinical trials and has been involved in developing Australian and global treatment guidelines. He has played a central role in the development of an affordable dialysis system, which was a Eureka Prize finalist in 2017.

In a major forum hosted by The George Institute for Global Health on Friday, key health sector thinkers, leaders and change makers from around the world gathered in Sydney to address maximising the impact of research on policy and practise for greater change.

The forum, which was hosted at the Museum of Sydney, included presentations from a cross section of health sector stakeholders, along with panel and audience Q & A.

Professor Anushka Patel, Chief Scientist at The George Institute, said the expertise that was brought together for the forum was invaluable for participants.

“Forums like these are essential to our work at The George Institute and gives an opportunity for key stakeholders to participate in an event where they can share candid information about how to maximise impact from investment into research.”

“We heard global perspectives on the need to reform many aspects of how funding agencies allocate funding, including the importance of balancing the need for fundamental research with that of research likely to yield outcomes of more immediate value to health systems.

“We also heard how ensuring pathways to impact are considered from the outset is crucial in determining eventual translation.”

Dr Rifat Atun presenting

Professor Bruce Robinson, Chair of the NHMRC Council and until last week, Dean of the University of Sydney Medical School, gave the opening presentation at the forum to provide insight into the NHMRC’s key collaborative funding schemes. In addition, Mr Mark Booth, First Assistant Secretary of the Health Systems Policy Division, Strategic Policy and Innovation Group at the Department of Health, further discussed new government schemes aiming to increase research impact, including the Medical Research Futures Fund.

Professor Rifat Atun from the Harvard School of Public Health spoke about the importance of funders providing an environment for open innovation systems, bringing together science, technology and service delivery, as well as re-shaping the risk reward calculus in funding decisions with an emphasis translational outcomes.

Providing a perspective from a low- middle-income country, Ms Sujatha Rao, former Secretary for Health for the Government of India, emphasised the unintended consequences of research agendas that are entirely donor-driven, without appropriate engagement of the end users within relatively weak health systems.

Professor Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, spoke to the importance of having a diverse strategy to achieving high impact research, and having an understanding that knowledge transfer is a social process. As a consequence, Professor McKee expressed the importance of having networks with research users, valuing policy-relevant outputs and supporting the training of early career researchers in policy engagement, media relations and cognitive biases.

Dr Michael Engelgau from National Institutes of Health in the US highlighted the increasing emphasis that this agency is placing on late phase implementation research, with the recognition of context being crucial in influencing impact.

The panel discussion, chaired by The George Institute’s Professor Bruce Neal, had Professor Barbara McPake, Professor Qingyue Meng and Professor Stephen Jan joining presenters to provide additional perspectives including; the importance of measuring the impact of research on policy and practice and in doing so, recognising that the process is often complex and long-term; the private sector as a stakeholder in the translation of research into practice and thus a potential sponsor; and the importance of promoting translation through research that takes into account the health systems context in which it is carried out.

Panel members included:

• Professor Bruce Robinson: Chair of the NHMRC Council
• Dr Rifat Atun: Director of Global Health Systems Cluster at Harvard School of Public Health
• Professor Martin McKee: Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Dr Michael M. Engelgau: Deputy Director of the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the US Department of Health and Human Services.
• Ms Sujatha Rao: Former Secretary of Health, Government of India
• Professor Meng Qingyue: Professor in Health Economics, Peking University; Director, Key Lab for Health Economics and Policy Studies, China’s Ministry of Health
• Professor Barbara McPake: Director, Nossal Institute for Global Health
• Professor Stephen Jan: Head of Health Economics Program and Senior Health Economist at The George Institute for Global Health
• Mr Mark Booth: First Assistant Secretary, Health Systems Policy Division, Strategic Policy and Innovation Group, Department of Health