NSW Government
NSW Health and Medical Research

Research to eliminate the need for heart transplants among pioneering projects receiving $3.7 million boost

​A research project with the ultimate goal to eliminate the need for heart transplants within the decade, is among recipients of a NSW Government grant program investing $3.7 million in 2025 to accelerate collaborative heart disease research and treatments.

Five research teams were awarded the NSW Government’s Cardiovascular Collaborative Grant program funding for 2025 at the Westmead Research & Innovation Conference at Westmead Research Hub.

L-R: Dr Jean-Frédéric Levesque, Deputy Secretary, Clinical Innovation and Research, NSW Health, Dr Javad Foroughi, Senior Research Fellow and Chief Investigator within the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health at the University of New South Wales, Associate Professor Cheryl Carcel, Head of the Brain Health Program at The George Institute for Global Health, Professor Robert Graham, Medicine & Health, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Kim Sutherland, Executive Director, Office for Health and Medical Research, NSW Health, and Professor James Chong, Head of the Cardiac Regeneration Laboratory at Westmead Institute of Medical Research. (Professor John O’Sullivan Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney was not present)

The successful recipients include Westmead Institute for Medical Research cardiologist Professor James Chong who is collaborating with senior researchers in NSW, Queensland and Victoria to progress leading-edge research into heart disease. Professor Chong’s received $750,000 in funding for a project researching a new therapy, which involves the injection of adult stem cells into damaged heart muscle to repair and regenerate heart tissue.

It is hoped that one day this treatment may be used in place of heart transplants to help prevent heart failure following a heart attack, which affects around one person every nine minutes.

The Cardiovascular Collaborative Grant program encourages collaboration between clinicians and researchers from organisations such as universities, medical research institutes and hospitals, to enable them to answer complex research questions and to support retention of innovative research in NSW.

The other successful 2025 recipients are:

  • ​Professor John O’Sullivan – Restoring energy generation in heart failure.
  • Dr Javad Foroughi – Innovative artificial heart muscles.
  • Associate Professor Cheryl Carcel – Blood pressure lowering treatment delivered pre-hospital.
  • Professor Robert Graham – Novel delivery systems to empower complete repair of the heart after a myocardial infarct.

The grants are part of the NSW Government’s Cardiovascular Research Capacity Program, a $150 million investment over 10 years, which aims to improve the cardiovascular health of people in NSW.

​Minister for Medical Research, David Harris said:

“Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of illness and death in Australia and the NSW Government is committed to funding research that will deliver new and innovative heart disease treatments.

“The NSW Health Cardiovascular Collaborative Grant program connects people and resources, encouraging collaboration between medical research institutes, universities and public health services.

“Supporting these five outstanding teams in their collaborative work meets strategic outcomes of the NSW Government’s Research and Innovation Strategy which aims to accelerate research and harness emerging innovations.

“This work will support efforts to reduce cardiovascular healthcare costs in the future, positioning the state as a world leader in health and medical research.”

James Chong, Head of the Cardiac Regeneration Laboratory at Westmead Institute of Medical Research, said: 

“The treatment our group has been developing uses specially cultivated stem cells to repair injured and failing hearts.

“Stem cells have the capacity to become any kind of cell in the body. Using a process called differentiation, we create cardiac stem cells and deliver them straight to the damaged area of the heart, where they grow new living, beating heart muscle. 

“This treatment could revolutionise the management of heart disease, addressing issues such as heart failure and loss of cardiac tissues after heart attacks. 

“Our ultimate goal is to cure heart disease and eliminate the need for heart transplants within the next decade.”

Updated 6 days ago