Organizing Committee Member
Heather Medbury Â
Senior Research
University of Sydney
Australia
Biography
Heather Medbury is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, and is based at Westmead Hospital. She completed her PhD in transplant immunology before transferring to Vascular Biology to work for Professor John Fletcher, the head of Surgery for the University. Heather established laboratory based research for the Department of Surgery at Westmead Hospital which, combined with the large animal work operating in the Department, become known as the Vascular Biology Research Centre. Her work has received oral presentations at national and international meetings including at the American Heart Association (2004) and International Atherosclerosis Society meetings
Research Area
Our research focus is cardiovascular disease. It is not just a global problem, but likely a personal one, as it doesn't just happen in someone else's family, but often within your own. Despite current treatments, patients with cardiovascular disease have a considerable residual risk of experiencing a clinical event (such as a heart attack or stroke). A challenge now is to develop strategies to prevent these remaining cardiovascular events. Though inflammation is thought to be a key contributor to residual risk, it is not a current treatment target. For the benefit of anti-inflammatory treatments to outweigh the risks, specific approaches will be required. A potential treatment target is the monocyte, as monocyte derived cells play a key role atherosclerotic plaque development and progression. Thus the focus of our group is to redefine the role of monocytes and macrophages in atherosclerosis in order to identify targets for therapeutic manipulation that could stabilize the disease. This will potentially result in a reduction in events such as heart attack and stroke that will not only decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with the disease but also limit the associated, health, social and economic burdens it poses.