Associate ProfessorJessica Orchard

PhD, MPH (Merit), BEc/LLB (Hons I), GDLP, AMusA, FESC, FCSANZ

Jessica is a Principal Research Fellow and NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow at the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, the University of Sydney. Since completing her PhD she has been continuously fellowship-funded, from a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship through to consecutive NHMRC Investigator Grants (Emerging Leadership 1 and 2).

Jessica’s research aims to improve the quality of screening programs that prevent sudden cardiac death and catastrophic disability from stroke. She is Director and Principal Investigator of the Australasian Registry of ECGs of National Athletes (the ARENA Project), a long-term international data repository established to improve understanding of ECG interpretation, cardiac diagnoses and rates of major cardiovascular outcomes in screened athletes. She is also chief investigator on several projects implementing cardiac screening programs for Indigenous Australians in remote and rural NSW and WA (Hearts in Focus), and has built collaborations across the US, UK, Europe and Africa.

Jessica is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (JSAMS) Plus, an Associate Editor at the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and Cardiac Research Fellow at Cricket Australia. She received the NSW Ministerial Award for Rising Stars in Cardiovascular Research in 2023, and was selected for the World Heart Federation Emerging Leaders Program (2023) and the American College of Cardiology Wael Al Mahmeed Global Leadership Institute (2026).

She has published more than 125 papers and commissioned research reports, cited over 22,000 times (h-index 34, i10-index 63), and has given more than 85 invited presentations, including at the European Society of Cardiology Congress and the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.

Jessica's PhD (University of Sydney) was awarded without emendation and received the Peter Bancroft Prize for Research. She also holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Economics / Bachelor of Laws (Hons I), all from the University of Sydney. She is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and a Fellow of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Jessica sits on the Executive Committee of the NSW Cardiovascular Research Network, member of the CSANZ Prevention Council, and Academic Member, University of Sydney Higher Degree by Research Examinations Subcommittee. She is an Honorary Academic Fellow of the Sybil Society, The Women's College, and a mentor in the Franklin Women program and several University of Sydney programs.