This year the 67th Annual scientific meeting of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) took place from Thursday 8 – Sunday 11 August in Adelaide. Researchers from the Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation (IMPACCT) research centre presented and were recognised for their cardiovascular research. The CSANZ is the professional body for cardiologists and those working in the area of cardiology; this includes researchers, health professionals and other healthcare workers and is the lead cardiovascular conference in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region, with over 1500 attendees.
This year we are pleased to announce that Dr Luna Xu was a finalist for the Cardiovascular Nursing Prize as well as being awarded a NSW Cardiovascular Research Network Travel Fellowship to attend the conference. Along with this, Dr Sabine Allida and Kevin Koo were both awarded CSANZ Travel Fellowships.
Associate Professor Sally Inglis, a Heart Foundation and NSW Cardiovascular Research Network Fellow and Principal Research Fellow at IMPACCT, is chair of the Cardiovascular Nursing Council, ex officio Board member of CSANZ, and a member of the scientific planning committee for the conference. She was invited to present on “Health Education interventions in heart failure: What does the evidence tell us?” in a joint session with the European Society of Cardiology Association for Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professionals. She was also a Master of Ceremonies at an invitation only, early-mid-career mentoring dinner hosted by CSANZ, with over 90 invitees, along with chairing of sessions across the conference program.
Dr Luna Xu, was a finalist for the Cardiovascular Nursing Prize. She was recognised for her longitudinal research on the association between food groups, memory loss and comorbidity of heart disease. Dr Xu has collaborated with Associate Professor Sally Inglis, Associate Professor Louise Hickman and Professor Deborah Parker using the 45 and Up Study. The results of which revealed that participants with increased consumption of fruits and vegetables were significantly associated with a decreased risk of memory loss and comorbidity of heart disease.
Dr Sabine Allida presented two abstracts of studies on behalf of Associate Professor Sally Inglis and Associate Professor Michelle DiGiacomo. The first was from a study on the impact of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) on people’s lives and the need for greater access to disease-specific information, education, services and support. The second was from a study which reviewed and measured the effects of non-invasive and natural chronic disease management interventions, targeting people with lower-limb PAD. Dr Allida was also awarded a CSANZ Travel Fellowship.
Dr Sungwon Chang was invited to give a 1 hour statistics workshop for the Heart Lung Circulation journal on “Statistics and Your Research: Hosted by Heart, Lung and Circulation”.
Angela Rao, a PhD candidate and research assistant for IMPACCT, gave three oral presentations on her research. Her first presentation was on the prevalence and predictors of depression and anxiety in a cardiac rehabilitation population and its impact on adherence. She also presented on health professional perspectives of the organisational barriers and facilitators to implementing meditation in heart disease clinical settings. Finally, Angela presented on the prevalence of anxiety and depression in a cardiac rehabilitation population and its impact on adherence.
Roslyn Prichard, a PhD student and research assistant at IMPACCT, gave an abstract from her PhD on clinical perceptions of quality of life in advanced heart failure.