MB BS, DPHIL (OXON), FRACP, FCSANZ, FAHA

Gemma is a Professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney and an Interventional and Imaging Cardiologist at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. She is the Chair of the University of Sydney’s multi-disciplinary Cardiovascular Initiative.

Gemma is committed to improving the care for heart attack patients, unravelling key mechanisms underlying susceptibility and response to heart attack, with studies extending from the bench to large cohort studies and clinical trials. Discoveries in her Laboratory have been published in leading journals including the Lancet, Circulation, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and European Heart Journal, with more than 350 publications. Gemma is a principal investigator on grants worth over $32 million.

Her discoveries and innovative strategies have resulted in a US patent, and five provisional patents spanning diagnostic and therapeutic fields. Gemma is founder and Chief Scientific Officer for Australian start-ups Prokardia and Kardiomics, and the not-for-profit CAD Frontiers.

She was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Excellence Award for Top Ranked Practitioner Fellow (Australia2018), NSW Ministerial Award for Cardiovascular Research Excellence (2019) and was the second female to be awarded the prestigious Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand RT Hall Prize for outstanding and sustained research achievement (2023). Gemma serves as a member of the Editorial Boards of leading international journals including Circulation and Cardiovascular Research and an Associate Editor for Heart and European Journal of Preventive Medicine.

She is a passionate advocate for cardiovascular research, working as President of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance with a national team to secure $220 million in Federal
funding for the Mission for Cardiovascular Health, and to build new pathways for research to best serve the unmet health needs of Australians. She chaired the MRFF Mission (CV) Expert Advisory Panel (2017-22). She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and serves or has served as a non-executive Director on multiple community Boards, including the Heart Foundation.

In 2023, Gemma was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), in the Australia Day Honours.

Prof Gemma Figtree AM will deliver the Wesfarmers Harry Perkins Oration on 11 November, 2026. Event details >

Positions 

• Professor, and NHMRC Fellow, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney 
• Interventional and Imaging Cardiologist, Royal North Shore Hospital 
• Chair, The Cardiovascular Initiative, University of Sydney  
• Chief Scientific Officer, founder, CAD Frontiers Pty Ltd 
• Chief Medical Officer, founder, ProKardia 
• Chief Medical Officer, founder, Kardiomics 
• Director and past-President of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance 
• MRFF Mission (CV) Expert Panel (2017-2022) 
• Scientific Advisory Committee, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research 
• Rhodes Scholar Oxford in the field of oxidative signalling and translational cardiovascular research (2002) 
• Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors 
• Gemma serves and has served as a non-executive Director on multiple community Boards, including the Heart Foundation. 

Recent Awards and Honours  

• NHMRC Excellence Award for Top Ranked Practitioner Fellow (Australia – 2018) 
• NSW Ministerial Award for Cardiovascular Research Excellence (2019) 
• Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand RT Hall Prize for outstanding and sustained research achievement (2023)  
• Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to medicine in the field of cardiology (Australia Day Honours List, 2023). 

Publications 

Prof Figtree’s laboratory discoveries have been published in some of the world’s leading medical journals, including The Lancet, Circulation, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and the European Heart Journal, and she has more than 270 publications to her name. 

Grants and Patents 

Prof Figtree is a leader in translating research into real-world innovation. She is a principal investigator on grants worth more than $32 million, with discoveries resulting in a US patent and five provisional patents across diagnostic and therapeutic fields.