Jason Kovacic graduated from The University of Melbourne Medical School in 1994, and then undertook residency and cardiology specialty training at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. Jason then completed a PhD at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, before relocating to the USA, to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. At the NIH, Jason undertook a postdoctoral fellowship with the then Director of the NHLBI, Dr. Elizabeth Nabel. In 2009 Jason moved to Mount Sinai in New York. As a physician-scientist and investigator at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Jason established a cardiovascular research laboratory with a strong interest in the cellular, molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease. He also established a large clinical practice as an interventional and clinical cardiologist. Major career achievements include successful investigator-initiated clinical studies of cardiovascular progenitor cell therapy, molecular characterization of a novel vascular progenitor cell population, unravelling the pathobiology of fibromuscular dysplasia and spontaneous coronary artery dissection, numerous basic and translational studies on the biology and manifestations of atherosclerosis, and pioneering studies regarding the role of endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT) in adult vascular biology and disease.
In early 2020 Jason was recruited to return Australia, and to take on the role of the Executive Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. Jason has now established his research program at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, where he continues his focus on cardiac and vascular diseases, including fibromuscular dysplasia and spontaneous coronary artery dissection. Jason currently holds the positions of the Robert M. Graham Chair and Professor of Cardiovascular Research at University of New South Wales, and continues his appointment as Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
