Assoc Prof Sanfilippo was awarded a PhD in clinical epidemiology in 2003 from the University of WA (UWA). He was appointed as a cardiovascular research fellow in the School of Population Health UWA in 2005, and was promoted to senior research fellow in 2012 and to principal research fellow (Associate Professor) in 2020. He is also a senior pharmacist at Royal Perth Hospital (0.2 FTE), starting his clinical career in hospital pharmacy in 1986, including 10 years as a clinical pharmacist. Hence, he has a 38-year clinical work history and a 21-year history as an epidemiologist, including 19 years in cardiovascular epidemiology.

Academic
(i) over 185 total publications, including in BMJ, Pharmacoepi Drug Safety, BMC Medicine, PLoS One, Scientific Reports; h-index 37, total citations 4949 (Google Scholar);
(ii) chief investigator on 55 grants $21m, with 8 as lead chief investigator (CIA) including 3 NHMRC, 1 MRFF, 2 Heart Foundation, 1 UWA, 1 industry;
(iii) associate investigator on a further 10 grants $6.5m

Education
• PhD (clinical epidemiology), UWA, 2003
• Certificate in Computer Engineering, RS101 (Distinction), Compumatics Pty Ltd, 1998
• PGradDipPharm (Distinction), Curtin University, 1993
• BPharm, Curtin University, 1986
• BSc (Physics), UWA, 1983

Current Employment
• Principal research fellow 0.8 FTE, UWA, Perth, (Apr 2020-present).
• Senior pharmacist 0.2 FTE, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, 1997-present.

Previous Employment
1986-89 pharmacist, Royal Perth Hospital
1989-96 senior pharmacist, Royal Perth Hospital
2001-05 research associate, UWA
2005-12 research fellow, UWA
2012-20 senior research fellow, UWA

1995-2002 PhD student, UWA

Key Appointments
• Member of the WA Cardiac Outcomes Registry (WACOR) Steering Committee (2019-2023)
• Deputy Chair of Working Group 2 (Outlier Governance and its Communication) for WACOR (Aug 2020-Jan 2023)

Major Research Interests
• Coronary heart disease, heart failure, cardiovascular epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, linked data analysis, artificial intelligence in medicine, cohort studies, outcome studies

Student Supervision
• PhD: 11 completed, 4 current
• Masters: 7 completed, 0 current
• Honours: 3 completed, 0 current
• Medical students: 9 groups completed, 0 groups current

Professional Services
• Peer reviewer for NHMRC (2013-15), UK WeLReN (2003), UK Medical Research Council (2018)
• Receive many requests to review papers for various journals (eg. BMJ Open, Clinical Therapeutics, BMC journals, Plos One).
• Examined PhD (2016, 2019) and Master theses (2017, 2018)
• Guest lecturing on pharmacoepidemiology to Master of Pharmacy students at UWA
• Member of the WA Drug Evaluation Panel (expert group advising WA Department of Health) 2002-2015
• Member of the UWA Human Research Ethics Committee (2012-16)

Professional Membership
• Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (1987-2010)
• Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (since 1986)
• Australasian Association for Quality in Health Care (2004-2005)
• Member of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (since 2011)
• Australasian Epidemiological Association (since 2012)
• International Epidemiological Association (since 2013)
• American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (since 2017)
• Pharmaceutical Society of Western Australia (since 2018)
• Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (since 2019)
• WA Cardiovascular Research Alliance (WACRA) (since 2019)
• Australian Society of Compounding Pharmacists (since 2022)
• Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (since Aug 2024)
• Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy (Pharmacy Informatics and Research, from July 2024)

Selected Invited Presentations (of 2 international and 25 national)

• Invited lecture: 2014. Title: Absolute CVD risk assessment. Pharmaceutical Society of WA Annual Seminar. Scarborough, Australia.

• Invited presentation and panel discussion, 2016. Title: Consumer participation in research: Researcher’s perspective. Thoracic Society of Australia & New Zealand Conference. Perth, Australia.

• Invited lecture, 2018. Title: analysis of PBS data in outcome studies. National Stroke Data and Quality Improvement Workshop, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia.

• Invited presentation and panel discussion, 2019. Title: Investigating heart disease through WA’s linked data infrastructure. Perth Cardiovascular Research Symposium, UWA, Perth, Australia.

• Invited speaker, May 2022: Medication adherence in cardiometabolic disease. Research forum on Cardiometabolic disease, UWA.

• Invited speaker, Dec 2022: Invasive coronary angiography in unselected patients presenting with chest pain to emergency departments in Western Australian teaching hospitals. Health Services Research Association of Australia and NZ, conference, Sydney Australia.