Flinders University researchers Associate Professor Anand Ganesan and Professor Robyn Clark have been awarded Heart Foundation Vanguard grants of almost $150,000 each to test innovative, life-saving concepts.

The funding – to deliver ‘A universal framework to quantify rotor formation and destruction in atrial fibrillation’ ($149,182) and ‘Standardised ACS discharge and medication education using Avatars to prevent 30-day readmission’ ($149,542) – will build on a strong body of research on these projects.

Professor Clark, as a Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (Acute Care and Cardiovascular Research) until March 2020, launched an app this year to complement the virtual health adviser or nursing ‘avatar’ called Cora, which helps personalise key medication and doctor appointment reminders on a patient’s device.

The Heart Foundation also this week announced another Health Professional Scholarship to PhD candidate Angela Xun Nan Chen ($81,440) to further understanding of the ‘adverse cardio-metabolic effects of glucocorticoids – the clinical and biological determinants.’

The Heart Foundation’s $14.4 million second round of 2019 funding offers adds to $900,000 for eight other recent Health Professional Scholarships, which is part of a three-year $50 million investment in heart-related research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and related conditions.

The latest 60 successful projects encompass biomedical, clinical, public health and health services. There were 479 applications, up from 420 in 2018, and 56 per cent of successful applicants are women.