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Biography

Professor Ben Freedman is currently Director External Affairs at the Heart Research Institute, Charles Perkins Centre and Group Leader of the Heart Rhythm and Stroke Prevention Group. He is Honorary Professor of Cardiology at The University of Sydney and former head of Department of Cardiology, Concord Hospital.

He is also an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine at Monash University, and Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He was Deputy Dean of Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney's Medical Faculty, for nine years from 2003 to 2012, and received the Faculty's inaugural Distinguished Service Award in 2012.

In 2015 he formed the AF-SCREEN International Collaboration, which now has over 170 members from 37 countries, including many of the foremost names in atrial fibrillation (AF) research. He has led the group in publishing two important white papers on screening for AF to prevent stroke, in Circulation, the premier journal of the American Heart Association. He is co-editor for Australia and New Zealand of the European Heart Journal. He has authored over 270 publications and a number of book chapters.

In 2011, he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for service to medicine as a clinician, educator and researcher.

“To suc­ceed as a sci­en­tist, it takes an under­stand­ing of the prob­lem lead­ing into an insight into the solu­tion, accom­pa­nied by deter­mi­na­tion and persistence.”

Collaborations

  • Collaboration with the Poche Centre to screen for atrial fibrillation (AF) in Indigenous Australians in remote and rural NSW, NT and WA (completed with potential for future studies)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Royal Melbourne Hospital to detect AF post-stroke in Australia, Hong Kong and China (SPOT-AF) (completed)
  • Collaboration with researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to screen for AF in cardiac clinics, general practice and the community (completed – over 20,000 people screened)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Shanghai to screen for AF in community centres (AF-CATCH) (completed)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Hanoi (Vietnam) to screen in hospital to detect AF after cardio-thoracic surgery (completed)
  • Collaboration with Hamburg and Gutenberg Heart studies (Germany) on screening for AF (completed)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Frankfurt (Germany) about epidemiology of AF (ongoing)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Oklahoma (USA) to screen for AF in tribal Indian clinics (completed)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Toyama (Japan) to investigate the incremental yield of annual screening (completed)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Thailand screening in rural areas using village health workers (completed)
  • Collaboration with researchers in Malaysia screening as part of an aging cohort study (ongoing)

Projects

Collaboration with researchers in Toyama (Japan) to investigate the incremental yield of annual screening

Patient self-screening using a smartphone ECG to identify recurrence of postoperative atrial fibrillation after non-cardiac surgery and medical admissions in Concord Hospital, Royal Perth Hospital, and Gosford Hospital

Collaboration with the Poche Centre to screen for atrial fibrillation in Aboriginal Australians in remote and rural NSW, NT, and WA

Patient self-screening for atrial fibrillation in general practice using screening stations