Stories

At 31 years old, travel blogger Liz Carlson had a clean bill of health and an appetite for adventure. Since starting her blog, Young Adventuress, over 10 years ago, Liz has been on some extraordinary journeys, yet on Valentine’s Day 2020, she experienced a heart attack that became the motivation to change her life for the better.

Northlanders with heart disease, diabetes and gout arthritis are set to get more support with the launch of a new partnership between three health charities and Mahitahi Hauora, Northland’s primary health entity.

The Heart Foundation has awarded its John Ormiston Fellowship to Dr Bernard Wong, who will spend a year at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong. There he will undertake research and clinical practice and learn up-to-the-minute intervention procedures, some of which are not yet available in New Zealand.

The Heart Foundation is co-funding research to see if a simpler test could be used to identify treatment strategies for people who’ve had a heart attack. If successful, some people will avoid transfer from regional hospitals for more invasive tests, and those requiring treatment such as stents will get it more quickly.

The Heart Foundation has granted researcher Dr Jichao Zhao a three-year fellowship to investigate ways that the latest modelling and digital simulation could be used to improve treatment for a common heart problem in New Zealand.

Future New Zealand heart transplant patients are set to benefit from a Heart Foundation training fellowship that will see a New Zealand doctor working at a leading Canadian Hospital.

Dr Nicola Scott has received a Heart Foundation research grant to investigate a newly discovered heart protein that could be used to treat a debilitating heart condition.

Dr Libby Curtis has received a Heart Foundation Fellowship to work on ground-breaking heart research in France before bringing her specialist skills back to Hawkes Bay Hospital.

The Heart Foundation are thrilled to have been selected as the official charity for the Ports of Auckland Round the Bays 2022, the largest fun run in New Zealand, on Sunday 6 March 2022.

Otago researcher Mr Hamish Aitken-Buck will use a three-year Heart Foundation Fellowship to investigate the link between fat, inflammation, and New Zealand’s most common heart rhythm problem.

Heart Foundation funded research is investigating the benefits of a newly developed pacemaker that could potentially reverse the decline of failing hearts.

Senior Research Fellow Dr Anna Pilbrow has been awarded the Heart Foundation’s inaugural Foundation100 Fellowship. Her two-year research project will investigate the use of DNA and genetics to identify people at risk of heart attacks and heart failure.