NSW CVRN Rising Stars Seminar Series - July 2026
Description
NSW CVRN Rising Stars Seminar Series - July 2026
The 2026 Rising Stars Seminar Series showcases early‑ and mid‑career researchers (EMCRs) and late‑stage PhD students who are building their research careers. Our line‑up of speakers reflects the depth and breadth of cardiovascular disease (CVD) research across NSW CVRN member organisations.
Please join us on Thursday 2 July at the University of Wollongong Sydney CBD Campus for the third seminar of 2026.
Theme: Advances in cardiovascular risk and precision medicine
This is a hybrid event. Attendees may choose to attend in person or online.
If you register for an online ticket, a Zoom link will be sent closer to the event date.
Please scroll down to view the speaker line‑up — all of whom are conducting outstanding CVD research.
Event check‑in (In-Person)
Please bring your QR code (digital or printed) on the day to allow for a quick and smooth check‑in on arrival.
Updating your attendance
If you are no longer able to attend, please cancel your RSVP using the “Manage order” link in your confirmation email, or notify the event organisers at cvrn@heartfoundation.org.au. Repeated non‑attendance at registered events will be logged and may affect eligibility for future CVRN initiatives.
Speakers
Dr Joanna Sweeting
NSW Sudden Cardiac Arrest: A Data Linkage Study -------------------------------------- Dr Jo Sweeting is a post-doc in the Ingles Clinical Genomics Laboratory at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. I have a strong interest in inherited heart disease, physical activity and data linkage. My current research involves the use of routinely collected administrative health data to identify and study cases of sudden cardiac arrest in 1-50 year olds.
Dr Jennifer Snaith
Changing the insulin-only treatment narrative in type 1 diabetes: GLP1 based therapies to reduce cardiometabolic risk -------------------------------------- Dr Jennifer Snaith is a St Vincent’s Hospital Staff Specialist Endocrinologist and post-doctoral researcher at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and the University of New South Wales. She co-leads the Australian Collaborative Towards Adjunctive Therapies in Type 1 Diabetes (ACT-T1D) research group, assessing the potential for adjunctive therapies to improve cardiometabolic health in type 1 diabetes. Active or completed trials include the INTIMET study (metformin), RESET1 (semaglutide), TIRTLE1 (tirzepatide) and TIRTLE2 (tirzepatide). Jen’s post-doctoral work is a supported by Breakthrough T1D.
Dr Ashwani Kumar
Cardiovascular Risk in Sepsis Survivors: Mechanisms and Opportunities for Prevention in Australia -------------------------------------- Dr Kumar is an early-career critical care epidemiologist and clinician-researcher at the George Institute for Global Health, specialising in sepsis epidemiology and health data informatics. With over 14 years of academic–industry experience, he has led multinational research and published in high-impact journals. His research focus includes improving health outcomes in sepsis survivors, particularly related to cardiovascular diseases, sepsis recognition in community, through innovative data-driven approaches and policy collaborations.
Dr Lauren Houston
Repurposing routine mammography for cardiovascular risk assessment in women -------------------------------------- Dr. Lauren Houston is a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health and Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW Sydney. Her research focuses on cardiovascular disease prevention in women and underserved populations, with expertise in clinical trials, implementation science, and women’s cardiovascular health. She leads research integrating cardiovascular risk assessment into routine mammography and is also involved in cardio-oncology and cardiometabolic prevention research.
Dr Minh Duc Nguyen
LesioLogic: A novel cardiac mapping system for enabling characterisation of tissue substrates and structure for improving cardiac ablation efficacy -------------------------------------- My name is Minh Duc Nguyen, a biomedical engineer-entrepreneur in cardiovascular research at Westmead Research Applied Centre, University of Sydney. I am passionate about technology and an active inventor with 3 medical devices in the field. My latest device, LesioLogic which supports cardiac catheter ablation procedures for treating arrhythmias, has secured $4.4M in funding to support its transformation from research to commercialisation. I am currently focused on integrating LesioLogic into clinical workflows by gathering feedback from clinicians and medtech companies across Australia, Europe, North America, and East Asia, aiming to enhance the safety and efficacy of ablation procedures.
Sophie Hespe
What do I do with all this uncertainty? -------------------------------------- Sophie is a PhD student in A/Prof Jodie Ingles lab at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of New South Wales. She is the chair of the Sarcomeric Human Cardiomyopathy Registry genetics committee. Her research focuses on understanding the genetic architecture of cardiomyopathies through variant and gene-disease relationships to inform evidence based genetic testing.
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