CSANZ’s official beginning was on 27 May 1952 at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia. J. Kempson Maddox from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney was described as a main instigator for this initial meeting attended by 14 physicians including one from New Zealand. Guy Austin from Adelaide Hospital, the inaugural chairman of this first meeting, became the Society’s first President in 1954 and Edward Roche the first New Zealand President of CSANZ in 1958. A total of 47 members representing all states of Australia and New Zealand were elected as Foundation members including eight surgeons and one woman—Kate MacKay. “Initially membership of the society was, to say the least, rather exclusive .”—described Gaston Bauer in his 1999 Historical sketches[1].
The Society’s first scientific meeting was in Hobart on 17–18 March 1953, chaired by R. Whishaw however, there are no formal records.
From 1966, meeting abstracts were published in the Australian Annals of Medicine (now Australian New Zealand Journal of Medicine). “In the early meetings the most frequent papers were on valvular heart disease and clinical physiology. There were no papers on coronary artery disease and only 2 on myocardial infarction”, illuminating the rapid pace of change in clinical cardiology[2].
Over the past two decades, CSANZ has grown in numbers, with notable inclusivity and influence including:
- CSANZ hosted the World Congress of Cardiology in 2002 and 2014.
- Became an official Affiliated Society of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2008.
- Education and Training digital portal started in 2012 and is currently being updated and improved with video and podcast content via the launch of the new CSANZ GO Digital Education platform in 2024.
- CSANZ became an International Chapter of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in 2012.
- CSANZ has formalised partnerships with both ACC and ESC with the introduction of hosting EECC exams in 2018 and hosting the ACC exams for trainees since 2016.
- Establishment of the CSANZ Executive Committee from 2014.
- NZ engagement and membership grew exponentially from 2016.
- Establishment of the Women in Cardiology, Information Technology and Cardio-oncology groups from 2018.
- Host of the CSANZ Indigenous Health Conferences in 2011, 2013, 2019 and next one 2025!
CSANZ has arisen from the uncertainty felt during the COVID19 era, to a greater engagement and an even stronger role for the Society as well as a greater diversity of participation.
The values of our Society, refreshed by our recent board—“Celebrating the values of equity, collegiality, integrity, diversity and including, excellence in science and patient care”—are strongly lived by our current membership and paves a way for a strong and exciting future for CSANZ.