Professor James Chong
PhD, FRACP, MBBS
As a cardiologist at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, I have seen first-hand the suffering of patients with cardiovascular disease and heart failure. In many cases our current treatment options are limited. Although heart transplantation is a viable option for severe heart failure, there will never be enough donor organs to supply the increasing demand of our ageing nation. This motivated me to pursue a path in research, focusing on developing novel therapies for cardiac for cardiovascular diseases and heart regeneration.
My research draws upon these diverse skills that I developed over the past 15 years or so. After my specialist medical and cardiology training, I completed a PhD at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute under the mentorship of Prof. Richard Harvey. Here, I learned powerful basic science skills including how to use genetic-mouse models to dissect the lineage origins of cell populations. My interest in stem cell research, led me to the University of Washington, Seattle, USA to work with Prof. Charles Murry, one of the world leaders in cardiac stem cell translational science. This allowed me to develop expertise in pluripotent stem cell culture and differentiation as well as multiple animal models of cardiac disease.
My vision is for our translational science laboratory is to take these skills and knowledge and combine them with new technologies to create innovative, targeted therapies for treating heart failure. I hope that our research can pave the way for much-needed solutions to the epidemic of cardiovascular disease and in doing so, help save billions of dollars in health care costs and many future lives.