Dennis Lawrence Kuchar is a cardiologist based in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. He was one of the first cardiologists to perform research on the signal averaged ECG. This groundbreaking research laid the groundwork for the current paradigm of ECG use for prediction of sudden death.

History

Kuchar grew up in Coogee

Coogee

Coogee may refer to:*Coogee, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney*South Coogee, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney*Electoral district of Coogee, an electoral district in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, based around the area...

, where he was the School Captain

School Captain

School Captain is a student appointed or elected to represent the school.This student, usually in the senior year, in their final year of attending that school...

 at Coogee Public School. He graduated with an MB BS (Honors) from Sydney University in 1978. In 1987, at the age of 29, he received his MD from Sydney University and FRACP from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians

Royal Australasian College of Physicians

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, or RACP, is the organisation responsible for training, educating, and representing over 9,000 physicians and paediatricians in Australia and New Zealand. It was founded in 1938....

.

Kuchar is associated with St Vincent's Hospital

St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

St Vincent's Public Hospital, Sydney is located in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. Though part of the New South Wales state public health system it remains under the auspices of the Sisters of Charity.-History:...

, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute or VCCRI is a scientific institution based in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia. The institute opened in 1994, three years after the death of renowned heart surgeon Dr Victor Chang...

 and St Vincent's Heart, specializing in cardiac arrhythmias, catheter ablation, pacemakers

Artificial pacemaker

A pacemaker is a medical device that uses electrical impulses, delivered by electrodes contacting the heart muscles, to regulate the beating of the heart...

 and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small battery-powered electrical impulse generator which is implanted in patients who are at risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The device is programmed to detect cardiac arrhythmia and correct it...

s.

Mentored by his close friend and colleague Victor Chang

Victor Chang

Victor Peter Chang, AC , was a Chinese Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation. Born in Shanghai to Australian-born Chinese parents, he grew up in Hong Kong before moving to Australia...

, Kuchar was involved in Australia's most famous heart transplant, that of Fiona Coote

Fiona Coote

Fiona Coote was the second, youngest and first female in Australia to undergo a heart transplant. The procedure was performed by notable Chinese-Australian cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Victor Chang and was successfully carried out on in April 1984, when Coote was 14 years of age...

.

Kuchar made news in April 2007 when he noted that the new Lexus

Lexus

is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...

 autolocking technology system could interfere with the settings of implantable defibrillators, with potentially fatal consequences.

Professional appointments

Dr. Kuchar's appointments include:

• 1979 Professorial Intern, Sydney Hospital
• 1980-1 Resident Medical Officer, Sydney Hospital
• 1982-3 Cardiology Registrar, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
• 1984-6 Cardiology Fellow, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
• 1986-8 Cardiology Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
• 1988 Cardiology Fellow, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
• 1989-93 Clinical Assistant (Cardiology), St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
• 1993- Staff Cardiologist, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
• 1998 Director, Coronary Care Unit, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

Personal life

In addition to his work in cardiology, Kuchar is an accomplished painter whose artwork has been published and shown in a number of Sydney locations. He was the winner of the Oil Section of the Waverley Art Prize in July 2007.

Kuchar married Dianne Neuhauser of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

in 1978. The two have a daughter, Cara, born 2 August 1982, and two sons, Ari Emil, born in 1984, and Natan Eli, born 2 June 1988.

On 22 December 2005 Cara Kuchar married Bondi dentist Dr. Haddon Suttner, a local family and cosmetic dentist.

In 1997 Kuchar was included in the book Who's Who in the World.

External links

• Dennis Kuchar's Free Artist Portfolio