Cardiovascular & Diabetes Research at the Faculty of Pharmacy

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death in Australia, according to the Heart Foundation, and diabetes is the country’s fastest growing chronic disease and the sixth leading cause of death in Australia.

Faculty research covers a range of cardiovascular diseases and problems from atherosclerosis and thromboembolism, to cardiac infarction and stroke. Researchers are looking at several key aspects of diabetes: management, treatment, and prevention using computational modeling, herbal medicines in metabolic syndrome management, and have developed a new pharmacy diabetes management model.

Researchers at the Faculty recognise the complexity of managing chronic diseases and so are tackling research from both the drug development and patient counseling perspectives.

The Faculty has secured funding for improving cardiovascular medication adherence and is developing an evidence based training package to educate and up-skill health professionals, GPs, pharmacists and nurses, in understanding current issues with adherence to medications and how they can implement strategies to improve management of patients with cardiovascular disease.

Research Strengths

• Herbal medicines for the management of metabolic syndrome: hyperlipidemia and diabetes
• Ras signaling and stimulation of cholesterol efflux in atherosclerosis
• Design, Synthesis and Pharmacology of New Diabetic Drugs
• Optimisation of anti-thrombotic therapy for stroke prevention.

Chronic Disease Management

The Faculty has a long history of developing disease management programs for pharmacists. Research has continued to assess how broadly these models can be implemented across pharmacies in Australia and how they should be refined. Future research will provide evidence for the expansion of the role of pharmacists into chronic care. Screening and prevention are also form part of this research and with academics at the Faculty are regularly asked to contribute expertise on the implementation of services in chronic disease management.