Diane Fatkin

Professor Diane Fatkin is a molecular cardiologist with research interests in inherited heart diseases, particularly familial forms of dilated cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation.

She trained in medicine (MB BS, BSc(Med), MD) and clinical Cardiology (FRACP, FCSANZ). Following MD studies with Professor Michael Feneley at St Vincent’s Hospital, Professor Fatkin undertook a postdoctoral fellowship with Professors Christine and Jon Seidman at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.

Professor Fatkin then returned to Australia to establish her own research group at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. Her current appointments include Honorary Medical Officer in the Cardiology Department, St Vincent’s Hospital, and Professor in the Faculties of Medicine and Science, University of New South Wales.

Recently she has spearheaded a number of major research breakthroughs, including identifying the genetic cause of a heart defect by studying 42 members of the same family.

The discovery enabled Diane and her colleagues to recommend a treatment involving a specific drug that altered the defect caused by the faulty gene, rather than relying on standard heart failure medicine. This lead to unprecedented complete normalisation of heart function and was heralded as part of a new era of personalised medicine.