Prof. David Playford is a Cardiac Imaging Specialist, with 25 years of experience in advanced echocardiography, and is a Level B accredited subspecialist in Cardiac CT imaging (CTCA and CAC). This expertise forms an important part of the Advara HeartCare Advanced Cardiac Imaging services in Western Australia.
Special clinical interests in general cardiology, cardiac risk assessment, breathlessness and pulmonary hypertension, heart failure and valvular heart disease.
About Prof David Playford
Professor David Playford is a clinical cardiologist and researcher. He is the founder of a subspecialty echocardiography service, prior Director of Cardiology at a large specialty cardiac centre, Professor and Head of Cardiology at the Notre Dame University, and Medical Advisor of an ASX-listed cardiac AI company. He is the co-founder, director and Chief Investigator of the National Echo Database of Australia (NEDA), the largest mortality-linked echocardiography database in the world. National leadership roles include the National Cardiac Imaging Council executive for 10 years, the Board of the Pulmonary Hypertension Society of ANZ for 10 years, and Convenor of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) Scientific Meeting in 2024. State leadership includes current chair of the WA CSANZ chapter (and CSANZ secretary for 12 previous years), numerous hospital Clinical Safety committees, Medical Advisory Committees and Clinical Management Committees.
With a proven track record in successfully leading and delivering research projects with complex subject matters, Professor Playford conceived, piloted, and now leads a breathlessness service in Perth, WA, focused on the rapid investigation, diagnosis, and treatment of undifferentiated breathlessness (especially cardiorespiratory disease). He also manages a cardio-oncology service, designed for early identification of cardiotoxicity during cancer treatment. As an advanced cardiac imager, he has subspecialty skills in echocardiography and cardiac CT. As founder and Chief Investigator of NEDA (including >2,000,000 echocardiographic records linked with outcomes), his collaborative research has resulted in key scientific papers that have influenced updated clinical practice guidelines. He has over 6500 original citations, including heart failure (specifically, mortality thresholds in systolic and diastolic LV function), aortic stenosis, pulmonary hypertension (mortality thresholds and outcomes) and artificial intelligence (automated risk phenotypes using only echo measurement data). His research team includes researchers across Australia and over 100 individual research projects either completed or currently underway. His research work has generated four individual patents.
Publications
Find all of Prof. David Playford’s publications here>
Professional Memberships
