Over the weekend of 2-3 May we did just that, coming together in collaboration at the first St Vincent’s National Heart Health Summit in Sydney, supported by the St Vincent’s Curran Foundation, and powered by the innovation and impact of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

More than 250 of Australia’s best and brightest in cardiac care and research, from across every part of St Vincent’s, joined forces to foster innovation and tackle the critical gaps in heart health across research, treatment, prevention, and health promotion.

The Summit featured St Vincent's leading cardiac clinicians. We were also thrilled to welcome international plenary Summit speakers from the world-renowned Mayo Clinic Platform, Maneesh Goyal, Chief Operating Officer and Dr Peter A. Noseworthy, MD, MBA, Chair of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Medical Director of Business Development. 

The Summit was proudly supported by the St Vincent’s Curran Foundation, which, thanks to the generosity of its donors, has raised an incredible $41 million for the St Vincent’s Heart Lung Innovation Fund since 2014. The National Heart Summit Gala Dinner enabled us to thank donors, celebrate their generosity and connect with leading clinicians from around Australia.

Our goal is simple – to transform heart health in Australia for the better. Coming out of this Summit we have established the National Heart Health Alliance to help drive our objectives:

• We will start to tell our new collective story – about our national presence and impact in heart health and what this means to our stakeholders, to governments, and to the community.
• We will develop new models of at-home care, particularly focused on heart health, and put more emphasis on our at-home care capabilities, which rely on the clinical and research expertise within our hospitals and precinct hubs to be successful.
• We will begin to develop the next iteration of our digital presence in heart health, building on the great starting point we have in svhhearthealth.com.au so that patients can find the advice and support they need and navigate to St Vincent’s services where appropriate.
• We will find new and easier ways to share and collaborate nationally – whether that is in research, clinical innovation, or improvement initiatives.

We are proud to be leading the response to one of our nation’s most pressing chronic health challenges and continuing our legacy of excellence and innovation, which started with our Sisters of Charity over 167 years ago.