Vlado Perkovic

Perkovic moved to Sydney and into professional academia after completing his PhD in 2005. The thesis undertaken at the University of Melbourne was entitled “The Cardiovascular Aspects of Kidney Disease”. Perkovic relocated to Sydney to take on a position as Associate Principal Director at The George Institute for Global Health (2007-2008), and was appointed Conjoint Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney. Perkovic worked in a number of senior research and executive positions at The George Institute, before being appointed Executive Director of The George Institute, Australia and Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney in 2012. In 2017 Perkovic was appointed to lead the non-communicable diseases theme as part of the University of New South Wales Medicine’s thematic research strategy.

From 2009-2014 Perkovic was the Executive Director of George Clinical, one of The George Institute’s commercial enterprises. He was appointed to the board of George Clinical in 2010 and holds this position today. In his current position as Executive Director, he has overall responsibility for the activities and research strategy of The George Institute, Australia. In this role, he is a key member of the organization’s global Senior Management Committee and leads and fosters excellence in research, teaching, professional activities and policy development within and beyond the Institute. Perkovic regularly appears in the media worldwide on behalf of The George Institute as an authority in the fields hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and clinical trials. His research is widely citedand has been responsible for changing medical guidelines. He has an increasing advocacy and media profile, with a number of op-eds in major newspapers, as well as chairing a number of roundtables and interviews. For example, Perkovic shared the stage with Dr Jim Kim, President of The World Bank, when he visited Sydney in 2014.

Perkovic is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (1999), the American Society of Nephrology, (2008) and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2016). He holds a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship and a program grant. Perkovic currently sits on the boards of a number of committees that determine the future strategic direction of health care and research in Australia. Some of Perkovic’s current positions include being a member of the Health Translation Advisory Committee (HTAC) of the National Health and Medical Research Council (2015-), Chairman of the International Society of Nephrology Advancing Clinical Trials initiative (ISN-ACT 2016-), a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Australian Clinical Trials Alliance, (2016-), and a member of the Executive Operations Secretariat, Australasian Kidney Trials Network (2016-, previous Chair of the Scientific Committee 2013-6)

Research Focus and Publications

Perkovic’s has published more than 200 peer reviewed papers, and his career has been based on clinical research investigating the prevention and treatment of kidney disease, and its complications. As well as epidemiological research identifying important risk factors, Perkovic has led a broad suite of clinical trials and meta-analyses aiming to identify effective interventions that slow the progression of kidney disease and reduce the risk of developing the many complications of kidney disease. Some of Perkovic’s key outputs here have been work on diabetic nephropathy published in a range of journals, and studies of blood pressure lowering, lipid lowering and a range of other interventions for the prevention of kidney failure and cardiovascular outcomes in people with kidney disease. Perkovic’s ongoing work includes further systematic reviews, large scale global trials of steroids for the prevention of kidney failure in IgA nephropathy (Co-Principal Investigator), and Steering Committee roles in a number of global, pharma-funded trials studying treatments for the prevention of kidney failure in diabetic nephropathy. This includes a role as Chair of the CREDENCE trial Steering Committee, studying the effects of the SGLT2 inhibitor canagliflozin on the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular outcomes in people with diabetes and kidney disease.

Perkovic’s research has led to major publications in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, BMJ, Annals of Internal Medicine, PLoS Medicine and a range of specialty journals.

Perkovic was born in Brinje, Croatia and moved to Australia with his family before the age of one. He lived in Melbourne and trained in medicine at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, receiving his MBBS and Doctor of Philosophy qualifications from The University of Melbourne in 1992 and 2005 respectively. He is married with three sons. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, he worked as a nephrologist and general physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, (2002-2005), and was appointed Head of Haemodialysis for the North West Dialysis Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital. From 2005 when he moved to Sydney, Perkovic has held a part-time appointment as a specialist in nephrology and hypertension at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney.