David Hare: changing lives around the world with heart and mind

Australian of the Year nominee David Hare has completely transformed the way we treat heart disease.

Professor David Hare.

David Hare is one of Australia’s leading researchers in cardio­vascular issues and has completely transformed the way we treat heart disease, but he thinks The Australian’s Australian of the Year award has more deserving nominees.

“The firefighters at present are the most deserving persons for the award,” Professor Hare said.

For 48 years, the University of Melbourne graduate has been devoted to cardiovascular research and has identified the causes of heart disease, reduced the risk of heart attacks and made waves amid the surgical treatment of heart attack patients, saving countless lives.

“I’ve always been interested in doing three main things, which was teaching, research and treating patients,” he said.

“Not only am I interested in the physical outcomes of patients but also their quality of life, which was an area untouched during my studies in the 1970s. I got permission from my university professor to move out of physician training to train as a psychiatrist.”

Professor Hare works as a senior­ cardiologist at Austin Health, where he practises ­general cardiology and is director of Heart Failure Services. He is the director of research in the Department of Cardiology and also the research integrity adviser for Austin Health in Melbourne.

He was the recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Scientist Medal of the Austin Research Foundation.

Professor Hare, the only cardiol­ogist in the world who has trained in psychiatry, has researched the impact of depression on cardiac patients for more than 40 years. His work has reached physicians and patients in at least eight countries, changing the outcome for millions of people through the translation and global validation of his work.

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“If you treat a person well, you get a good outcome for that indiv­idual, and if you can teach a medical student how to better treat their future patients, then you can better the lives of people, which can only happen through research­,” Professor Hare said.

“It’s fantastic to know how much you have helped people, not just in Australia, but people from around the world.”

The way people feel and react to heart disease is the same over the world, which in many ways is what has motivated Professor Hare to continue studying cardiovascular disease, as he gets to watch firsthand how his research can change the lives of millions.

We encourage our readers to put in a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year, which was first won in 1971 by economist HC “Nugget” Coombs. Prominent Australians can be nominated by filling out the coupon above, or sending an email to [e-mail] or going to our website, theaustralian.com.au. Nominations close on Thursday, January 23.