"There's nothing like finding out something that no one ever knew before - and we do find new things all the time," Professor Mark Richards says enthusiastically about heart failure research.

The recipient of Otago's 2008 Distinguished Research Medal, Richards speaks with detailed intensity and fluency about his passion - heart research and the difference it's making to patients' lives. It's a difference based on an impressive track record built over two decades as clinical director of the Christchurch Cardioendocrine Research Group (CCERG), and has earned him an enviable international reputation for revealing important new information on heart failure and heart disease.

There's little doubt that Richards and the CCERG are a significant force in cardiovascular research, reflected in his 300 published papers (9,400 citations) and international accolades for groundbreaking heart research.

"I was delighted to receive the medal, in fact flabbergasted. I don't think it relates to any one particular piece of work we've done, but simply the accumulated impact of the group over a long period of time, and the fact, that we've made a clinical difference in the cardiovascular area internationally," he says.

This has been no mean feat and represents determined clinical and scientific achievement at the highest levels. Richards and the 40-strong research group, albeit based at a relatively small School of Medicine in Christchurch, have shown that leadingedge health research can be done in this country. He also says medical research is now probably more difficult to do here than anywhere else in the OECD.

In that sense, this achievement reflects Sir Ernest Rutherford's comment: "We don't have the money, so we have to think!" However, in the highly technological and complex world of modern biomedical research, Richards would argue that, while important, thinking is just not enough these days.

"People often say that New Zealand doesn't need this kind of research, that we can import the results from elsewhere. Don't believe it. If you don't have people who understand and can take medical science a step further, then importing techniques, equipment and so forth is never going to be good enough," he says.

The CCERG's strength is that it comprises a mix of creative clinicians, brilliant biochemists and biomedical scientists, enabling it to make a real difference in cardiovascular diagnostics and treatment. Among its many significant research achievements, its findings have resulted in new international clinical guidelines for treating heart disease, and new blood tests for heart hormones making the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure much more accurate and cost effective.

In short, over two decades, Richards and his team have spearheaded innovative and clinically relevant research which is improving thousands of patients' lives on a daily basis worldwide, and saving health systems millions in extra treatment costs. After all, more than 30,000 people are admitted to hospital in New Zealand every year with heart problems.

At a personal level, though, what keeps Richards spending more than 50 per cent of his time on research, when he is also a busy cardiologist at Christchurch Hospital?

Professor Mark Richards' research into heart failure and heart disease is making a real difference to patients' lives every day.

It seems insatiable curiosity, making progress, making discoveries and not standing still are some of the factors. For Richards, "life is very short", and his personal motivation reflects the determined scientific enquiry which stretches back to the Renaissance; a tradition which has saved countless lives.

"And the latter point is really important. Health research in New Zealand is ultimately about better health care, saving lives and saving money. Politicians and the public often don't make the connection that there's a huge public financial benefit to health research, and yet we spend relatively little on it."

Since the early 1990s Richards has been engaged in ground-breaking research into why heart hormones, such as BNP, NTpro-BNP and others, are so crucial to heart failure. These findings have been published in leading international journals such as The Lancet and praised as "medical milestones" in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.

"Our PMI, or post myocardial infarction [heart attack], study gathered a huge amount of information and showed that by measuring hormone levels in the blood, secreted by the heart under stress, doctors can much more accurately assess survival rates. High levels mean more risk and the need for more intensive treatment," he explains.

Richards and the CCERG are now working on a wider range of studies into heart failure. One is looking at 2,000 patients within a much broader spectrum of acute coronary syndromes, from angina to heart attack, and how these relate to an even geater selection of hormonal biomarkers in the blood.

He is also investigating new biomarkers and blood tests to speed up the diagnosis of patients admitted to emergency departments, either short of breath or with chest pain. At present, diagnosis delays in emergency cost the New Zealand health system millions of dollars each year.

Another revolutionary study, involving international collaboration, is a worldfirst trial into the implantation of devices to monitor heart performance and pressure. Yet another is looking at the links between genes, heart disease and survival after heart attack.

Overseeing and funding all this research takes a huge amount of work and long hours. Richards says he spends 20 per cent of his time on HR and funding issues alone, and winning grants to fund research is a constant struggle that is getting more difficult, not easier. Jokingly, he talks about writing grant applications between 1am and 3am, but it is probably true.

"You do get used to it, but applying for research funding is a relentless battle, and it's exhausting. This year I applied or cowrote 13 separate Health Research Council project grants, requiring huge amounts of personal time; the result - two funded.

"We've had our main research programme renewed, which was a huge relief as it gives us a foundation for another six years. We've also been generously supported by the National Heart Foundation through my Chair in Cardiovascular Studies. But we need much more on top of that to carry on and that's why I'm always searching for more money, both here and overseas.

"I think about money and keeping the group running every day, and sometimes I wake up at night wondering where I'm going to get the next grant from. It's constantly there," he says.

It doesn't sound much fun and yet, during this interview, Richards often laughs at his situation. He gets two or three good offers to leave New Zealand every year, but has turned them all down so far. It comes down to loyalty to colleagues, he says, many of whom are personal friends, and his belief that New Zealand is still a good place to live.

Richards has also recently received the Royal Society of New Zealand's 2008 Sir Charles Hercus Medal for Biomedical Sciences and Technologies.

Funding