Christopher Semsarian MBBS, PhD, FRACP, MPH, FCSANZ, FAHA, FHRS

Professor Christopher (Chris) Semsarian is an internationally renowned cardiologist and scientist studying genetic heart disease and sudden death and the management of individuals and families with or at risk of inherited cardiac disorders. He is the Director of the Genetic Heart Disease and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney and Director of the Australian Genetic Heart Disease Registry.

Professor Semsarian’s research focuses on identifying new genes in cardiovascular disease, elucidating the molecular basis of how these genes lead to clinical manifestations, and evaluating the role of modifying factors in clinical disease development and progression. He established and heads the Molecular Cardiology Program at the Centenary Institute, University of Sydney. In 2003, he established Australia’s first tertiary referral multi-disciplinary Genetic Heart Disease and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic which receives referrals from around Sydney and regional NSW.

The clinic and the Molecular Cardiology Program serve as a national centre of research and clinical excellence in genetic heart disease and sudden death, by combining management and prevention of sudden death in at-risk families, with cutting-edge research in the field, and where basic molecular research results have translated to advances in clinical care. He has co-authored many of the best practice Australian and international guidelines on genetic heart diseases, sudden death and genetic testing. In 2008 Professor Semsarian’s team established the Australian Genetic Heart Disease Registry www.heartregistry.org.au, which is a major database and patient support initiative involving collaboration between all States and territories that aims to enroll every Australian family with genetic heart disease. With >1000 families currently enrolled, the registry covers all known genetic heart conditions, and is the only such registry worldwide.