Award for Significant Work in Heart Research
Dr Julie Redfern of The George Institute for Global Health has been awarded a 2012 Research Development Project grant by the Cardiovascular Research Network (CVRN) for her research around people who have survived a heart attack and other serious acute coronary syndrome events.
Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer of men and women in Australia, claiming the life of one Australian every 11 minutes and costing the health system $12 billion annually.
Dr Julie Redfern's research is looking to understand the health support needs of people living with acute coronary syndrome, in particular what happens to survivors in the year after a serious event.
"Insights from this research will help shape novel preventative strategies for heart attack survivors," said Dr Redfern
"Not enough heart attack survivors are taking up the recommended lifestyle changes and we are seeing an increasing number of people, especially women, dying of a second heart," she said.
"This research will help heart attack survivors have the support they need to prevent another incident."
The CVRN hosts the annual event to recognise the hard work and dedication of NSW researchers who work tirelessly to combat Australia's biggest killer, cardiovascular disease, and to highlight the importance of ongoing funding for medical research.
"In NSW we have some of the most innovative and outstanding researchers who are tackling cardiovascular disease head-on," said Kristina Cabala, CVRN Director at the Heart Foundation.
This year's event took place on Tuesday 20 November at NSW Parliament House where researchers from all across NSW joined together with the Minister for Health and Medical Research, Jillian Skinner.
The Research Development Project Grant are awarded to support significant projects evolved among the NSW CVRN membership that are collaborative, high quality, and policy relevant research in cardiovascular and related disease.
Dr Redfern is an advocate for effective secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. She is currently the Allied Health representative on the Board of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand and was co-Chair of the 2011 National Secondary Prevention of Coronary Disease Summit.
