Prof Tony Keech receives Vice Chancellor's Award

30/07/18

CTC Deputy Director, Prof Tony Keech, has been awarded the prestigious 2018 University of Sydney Vice Chancellor's Award for Research. Peer-nominated, the awards recognise impact, leadership, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and industry and community engagement as well as outstanding performance in the support of research and education and professional service.

Prof Keech has co-led a team of researchers at the CTC over the past 24 years, assisting in its growth from 24 to over 200 staff members. In this time over 65,000 patients have been recruited to 100 multicentre trials involving more than 800 clinical sites. 

Through his leadership of landmark clinical trials and systematic reviews, Prof Keech has played a pivotal role in translating research into policy and practice changes, guidelines, new drug indications and PBS subsidy support criteria. His research continues to influence the treatment of people with a myocardial infarct or those at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the health outcomes of premature babies, and clinician training in both clinical medicine and medical research. 

Prof Keech is internationally known in the field of cardiovascular clinical trials, and is well recognised for his collaborative research into coronary risk factors, treatments for acute coronary syndromes, prediction of vascular disease and treatment and diabetes complication prevention. He was awarded the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Foundation Medal in 2017.

He has been awarded or co-awarded a career total of over $256 million in government and industry grants, including over $39 million in the last five years. He has held an NHMRC Research Fellowship since 1997, and has received NHMRC block or programme grant funding for 20 years (over $37 million). Prof Keech has authored and co-authored over 260 peer-reviewed publications including 220 journal articles, with 46 of his papers cited over 100 times, and 15 of these cited between 500 and 6,500 times.

Over the past five years, Tony has supervised 11 postgraduate students, and dozens of medical and science students. He also directs a successful Masters in Clinical Trials Research programme, graduating over 45 graduate clinician researchers to date.