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.

Sensyne Health has acquired the SUPPORT-HF™ digital health software developed by researchers at The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford. SUPPORT-HF has been designed to help patients and clinicians in managing heart failure and curate data for medical research using clinical Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Following six years of research and development, and a 30-month, 202-person randomised controlled trial, due to be submitted for publication in late 2018, Sensyne Health plan to develop a cloud-based, scalable version of SUPPORT-HF to help support the management of heart failure in the community.

Professor Kazem Rahimi, Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and Chief Investigator of SUPPORT-HF at The George Institute, commented:

“This simple software enables heart failure patients to understand and monitor their condition and take control of their treatment in their own homes. An affordable, sustainable system, it has the potential to not only empower patients, but to strengthen the health system to bring specialist knowledge to non-specialists.”

Heart failure affects 26 million people worldwide and is now considered a global epidemic. In the UK, 900,000 patients are estimated to have the disease, and almost as many have damaged hearts but have not yet shown symptoms of heart failure. Heart failure is currently the leading cause of hospital admissions for those aged 65 years and older with admissions expected to rise by 50% over the next 25 years. The management of heart failure represents a significant cost burden to the NHS, with 1-2% of the total annual budget estimated to be spent on the condition.

SUPPORT-HF is the fourth digital health software product Sensyne Health, a British clinical AI technology company, has acquired as part of its five-year strategic research agreement with the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The collaboration between Sensyne Health, the University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, established in July 2017, creates a pathway for the commercial development of digital health innovations invented and clinically validated by the University and the Trust.

Dr James Groves, Senior Licensing and Ventures Manager at Oxford University Innovation, the technology transfer company for this collaboration, said:

“SUPPORT-HF is another example of cutting-edge digital health technology coming out of Oxford, created through the cross-disciplinary collaboration between doctors, engineers and software developers. We look forward to seeing this technology making a positive difference to the workload of doctors, the finances of the NHS and the health of patients suffering from heart failure.”

• To learn more about the project, please visit the SUPPORT-HF website