The Author

A/Prof. Chris O’Callaghan is a specialist physician and clinical pharmacologist. He has appointments at Austin Health and the University of Melbourne, and he is the Principal at Melbourne Cardiovascular & Autonomic Clinic – a multi-disciplinary medical and allied health clinic that specialises in disorders of blood pressure and diseases of the autonomic nervous system.

A/Prof. O’Callaghan undertook specialist training trained at Austin Health in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Melbourne for his research that examined how adrenaline controls blood flow in the body. Later, he spent three years in the laboratories of Professor Bryan Williams at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, where he studied how adrenaline modifies blood vessel structure by regulating the production of collagen – the microscopic fibre that holds the body together, and which plays a key role in the structure of blood vessels. Back in Australia, A/Prof O’Callaghan and colleagues performed the definitive studies that characterised the effects of spinal cord injury on blood pressure. A/Prof O’Callaghan has had appointments at Austin Health as a Clinical Pharmacologist, General Physician, Supervisor of Intern Training and Director of General Medicine.

Patients who are treated in A/Prof. O’Callaghan’s clinics have conditions that are numerous, disabling, poorly understood and difficult to treat. The evidence base for treating these conditions is still developing – it will be years or even decades before clear therapeutic pathways emerge. Until then, A/Prof O’Callaghan’s focus is to provide patients with the knowledge that is necessary to control and treat these conditions.