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About Associate Professor Chris Ward

Developing new diagnostic tests and treatments for patients with serious blood diseases

Christopher Ward is the Director of the Northern Blood Research Centre, and supervises clinical and basic research into diseases of the blood and clotting system

Associate Professor Chris Ward is a Clinical Haematologist in the Department of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital with research interests in coagulation, myeloma and vascular biology. After a PhD at the Baker Institute, Melbourne and postdoctoral studies at the Blood Research Institute in Milwaukee, USA, he was appointed in 1999 to Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. He has national research awards from the Haematology Society of Australia, Australian Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis and Royal Australasian College of Pathologists.

A/Prof. Ward is the Director of the Northern Blood Research Centre, supervising research in platelet function, hypercoagulability in cancer and other disease states, and global tests of coagulation. The Centre maintains a busy clinical trials programme and A/Prof Ward is the lead investigator for coagulation trials. More recent projects have utilized mesenchymal stem cells and haemopoietic stem cells to treat disease states. The Centre is integrated into a busy clinical and diagnostic Department, with opportunities for research staff to see the impact of their work on patient care. In 2008, the Centre will be relocating to new, state-of-the-art research facilities on the Northern Campus.

Selected publications

  • Curnow JL, Morel-Kopp M-C, Roddie C, Aboud M and CM Ward. Reduced Fibrinolysis and Increased Fibrin Generation can be Detected in Hypercoagulable Patients Using the Overall Haemostatic Potential Assay (OHP) J Thromb Haemost 2007 5:528-34
  • Taylor BA, Tofler GH, Carey HMR, Morel-Kopp M-C, Philcox S, Carter TR, Elliott MJ, Kull AD, Ward CM, Schenk K. Full mouth tooth extraction lowers systemic inflammatory and thrombotic markers of cardiovascular risk. J Dental Research 2006 85:74-78
  • H Liang, M-C Morel-Kopp, JM. Clemetson, KJ. Clemetson, R Kekomaki, H Kroll, K Michaelides, EG.D. Tuddenham, K Vanhoorelbeke, CM. Ward A Common Ancestral Glycoprotein (GP) IX Gene Mutation (Asn45Ser) Occurring in European Families from Australia and Northern Europe with Bernard-Soulier Syndrome (BSS). Thromb Haemostasis,  2005 94:599-605
  • McCowan LME, Craigie S, Taylor R, Ward CM, McLintock C, North RA. Inherited thrombophilias are not increased in “idiopathic” small for gestational age babies. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003, 188(4):981-5.
  • Ward CM, Kestin AS, Newman PJ. A Leu262Pro mutation in the integrin b3 subunit results in an aIIbb3 complex that binds fibrin but not fibrinogen. Blood 2000, 96:161-169
  • Scott JP III, Scott JPII, Chao Y-L, Newman PJ, Ward CM. A frameshift mutation at Gly976 in the transmembrane domain of GPIIb prevents GPIIb-IIIa expression. Analysis of two novel mutations in a kindred with Type I Glanzmann thrombasthenia. Thromb Haemostasis 1998, 80: 546-50
  • Jackson DE, Ward CM, Wang R, Newman PJ. The protein tyrosine phosphatase, SHP-2, binds PECAM-1 and forms a distinct signaling complex during platelet aggregation. Evidence for a mechanistic link between PECAM-1 and integrin-mediated cellular signaling. J Biol Chem 1997, 6986-6993
  • Ward CM, Andrews RK, Smith AI, Berndt MC. Mocarhagin, a novel cobra venom metalloprotease, cleaves the platelet von Willebrand receptor glycoprotein Iba. Identification of the sulfated tyrosine/anionic sequence Tyr-276-Glu-282 of glycoprotein Iba as a binding site for von Willebrand Factor and a-thrombin. Biochemistry 1996, 35: 4929-4938
  • De Luca M, Ward CM, Ohmori K, Andrews RK, Berndt MC. Jararhagin and jaracetin, novel snake venom inhibitors of the integrin collagen receptor, a2bƒ¡ƒ| Biochem Biophys Res Comm. 1995, 206: 570-6
  • Berndt MC, Ward CM, Booth WJ, Castaldi PA, Mazurov AV, Andrews RK. Identification of Asp-514 to Glu-542 as a glycoprotein Ib/IX complex receptor recognition sequence in von Willebrand Factor. Mechanism of modulation of von Willebrand Factor by ristocetin and botrocetin. Biochemistry 1992, 31: 11144-11151