We congratulate Dr Earlene Silvapulle, awarded the 2024 ANZCA Patrons Emerging Investigator Scholarship

Dr Earlene Silvapulle has been awarded the 2024 ANZCA's Patrons Emerging Investigator Scholarship for her project "Integration of Duke Activity Status and Frailty Indices into cardiac evaluation before high-risk noncardiac surgery" which is part of the ENDURANCE Study.

Heart complications affect hundreds of thousands of older Australians undergoing surgery annually. Despite the importance of identifying these high risk patients, there is currently no pre-operative assessment which can accurately identify individuals at high risk for post-operative myocardial infarction following non-cardiac surgery.

Dr Silvapulle aims to identify potential predictors of myocardial infarction post-operative by combining the functional capacity assessment (DASI Score) with frailty assessment (Frailty Index).

It si hoped that the results will allow better prognosis prediction for patients, and initiation of secondary prevention measures to reduce cardiovascular complications and deaths in Australians.

Dr Earlene Silvapulle