By The Westmead Institute for Medical Research

Wednesday 29 September is World Heart Day – a global day of focus on heart health and cardiovascular disease. The Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) is rising to the challenge with an online drive to help accelerate pioneering cardiac research. Every dollar raised in the countdown to World Heart Day will be instantly matched, driving every dollar further and immediately doubling the impact.

Associate Professor James Chong, a Cardiologist at Westmead Hospital and Co-Director of WIMR’s Centre for Cardiac Research, is leading a dedicated team striving to develop a radical new treatment for heart disease – using innovative stem cell technologies to grow new heart muscle and create a ‘patch’ to repair damaged and failing hearts.

For the first time we could begin to talk about a ‘cure’ for heart disease, one that could eliminate the need for heart transplants within the next decade. This is a gamechanger that has the potential to not only save millions of lives around the world, but to also save billions of dollars in health care costs.

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death in Australia. Tragically, it is responsible for causing one in four deaths. This means that on average, cardiovascular disease takes a life every 12 minutes; that’s 118 people every day. New approaches to treatment are urgently needed.

Associate Professor Chong says, “Our research into a new way of treating heart failure is extremely promising, and I am incredibly excited about progressing this project to clinical trial very soon. We have government backing to be able to move to clinical trials. However, there is more critical work still to be done in the lab, and that’s where we need community support.”

WIMR aims to raise $50,000 throughout September. Every donation made up to World Heart Day on Wednesday 29 September will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.

That means every contribution could help unlock an additional $50,000 and could see $100,000 directed to accelerating progress on Associate Professor James Chong’s vital research.

Together we can help transform the way heart disease is treated in Australia and around the world, from right at the heart of Western Sydney.

• Find out more and make a personal contribution, visit https://wimr-world-heart-day.raisely.com/
• Join other Western Sydney business leaders and organisations showing their support – spread the word and encourage donations from colleagues, staff and customers.

To discuss how your business could get involved and show your support for breakthrough research underway at WIMR contact:

Amanda Thompson, Strategic Partnerships Manager, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research Foundation, amanda.thompson@sydney.edu.au