Novartis, Monash University partner to improve heart health in Australia

Monash University, Monash Health and Swiss firm Novartis have announced a unique Australian partnership in the fight against cardiovascular disease, Australia’s most significant health challenge responsible for 1 in 4 deaths and claiming an Australian life every 12 minutes. 

The strategic partnership brings together the strengths of academia, the public health network and industry to work collaboratively to deliver education, innovation and clinical trials that can respond quickly to sector need.

With an initial focus on digital health infrastructure, the partnership facilitates grant funding that will see the creation of the Coronary Heart Disease and Heart Failure analytics driven ‘Living Lab’.

This initiative will leverage clinical data to create tools including visual dashboards to aid in identifying opportunities in care and risk management, supporting clinicians to make real-time decisions for lipid (cholesterol) management and heart failure.

Programme Director of Monash Health’s Victorian Heart Hospital and Director of Monash University’s Victorian Heart Institute, Professor Stephen Nicholls says that while patients are living longer, managing heart conditions is becoming more complex and costly.

“Despite having more therapies available, almost half of the patients who have had a cardiovascular event aren’t reaching their cholesterol targets, and heart failure remains the second highest cause for unplanned hospital readmission in Victoria. The reasons for this are often nuanced,” he said.

“There’s a significant opportunity to improve patient outcomes if we develop the tools to unlock the insights a data-driven approach to care can provide”, says Professor Derek Chew, Service Director of Monash Health’s Victorian Heart Hospital and Director of Health Informatics Research at Monash University’s Victorian Heart Institute.