Jason C. Kovacic

Jason C. Kovacic (born 1968) is an Australian-born cardiologist and physician-scientist; the Robert Graham Chair and Professor of Medicine, University of New South Wales; Executive Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney, Australia; and Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

Education Jason Kovacic graduated with a degree in Medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1994. While undertaking his degree, Kovacic deferred his studies to compete in the 1986 Junior World Rowing Championships and to take up a Rowing Scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra. While in Canberra, Kovacic completed a Bachelor of Medical Science degree in exercise physiology related to blood viscosity in elite rowers at the AIS. Afterward, he resumed his Medicine studies in Melbourne, graduating in 1994.

Kovacic undertook a residency at Prince of Wales Hospital, As a cardiology trainee in early 2003, Kovacic was the doctor for Rolling Stones for some of their Licks World Tour Australian shows.

Kovacic pursued a PhD at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute focusing on the application of cell therapy to treat patients with refractory ischemic heart disease. In 2007 he relocated to the US's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland In 2009 Kovacic moved to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and after a further fellowship in interventional cardiology, went on to become a faculty member

Career and research As a physician-scientist, cardiologist and investigator at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His lab at Mount Sinai received its first NIH grant molecular characterization of a novel vascular progenitor cell population

Kovacic also established a clinical practice as an interventional and clinical cardiologist. From 2015 to 2020, Kovacic was the Associate Director of the Interventional Structural Heart Disease Program at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Kovacic became full Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Mount Sinai Hospital, and in 2019 was the Director of Cardiovascular Translational Science and Acting Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. 2009 – Recipient of FARE award from National Institutes of Health. 2010 – Recipient of Dedication and Achievement Award, The Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute and The Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health, Mount Sinai Medical Center. 2013 – Kovacic was recognized as an 'Emerging Leader' by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and the American College of Cardiology. 2015 – Named an 'Elite Reviewer' by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. for ranking in the top 1% nationally in provider communication by CMS’s CG CAHPS patient experience survey and Deans Healthcare System Team Science Award for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (as PI of the DEFINE-FMD study). 2019 – Kovacic received the Founders Award from the Fibromuscular Dysplasia Society of America.

Other contributions Kovacic has given over 60 US and other international invited presentations and served on many US NIH committees and panels. He is section editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. and an editorial board member at the journals Vascular Medicine and Cardiovascular Research. He is also on the board of directors of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA)