Cardiology at Westmead Hospital from 1990 to 2007

Professor John Uther was the Director of Cardiology at Westmead Hospital from 1979 to 1990. Professor David Ross and Dr Pramesh Kovoor followed in this capacity subsequently. Networking between Westmead and metropolitan hospitals was established by conjoint appointment of cardiologists across the facilities. Westmead has maintained its excellence in electrophysiology with leadership in operative/catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, development of catheter for mapping tricuspid annulus, multi-electrode mapping and intramural ablation of ventricular tachycardia and paediatric electrophysiology. Dr. Hugh Paterson became the Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2006. The previous Directors were Dr. David Johnson, Dr. Graham Nunn and Associate Professor Richard Chard. Westmead established an area-wide acute infarct angioplasty service for all patients presenting to any facility in Western Sydney along with triage of chest pain in the ambulance in 2004. Collaborative sessions with vascular surgeons for non-coronary interventions commenced in 2005. In the future, Westmead will continue its excellence in vascular and electrophysiological interventions. Imaging (echocardiography, computerised tomography and magnetic resonance imaging) will be a major part of the service. Innovation in basic science is likely. Overall, it will be an exciting time to be a cardiologist, vascular surgeon or cardiothoracic surgeon at Westmead.