Meet Heritage Roll of Honour Inductee     Leighton Kearney 

Leighton commenced at St Virgil’s College in 1988 following a primary education at Glenorchy State School, where his mother, Robyn was a teacher. 

Leighton had an outstanding academic record whilst at the College. Furthermore, he distinguished himself in Athletics, Cross Country, Football and Cricket. He was awarded the Outstanding Junior Athlete Trophy in 1990, and was the winner of the Goldsmith Trophy in 1990 and again in 1991.  The Goldsmith Trophy is awarded to the athlete gaining most points for the College in inter-school competition. Leighton still holds the College record for the Under 16 800m. He was Vice Captain of the Athletics team in 1993. He won his age group race at the SATIS Cross Country carnivals in 1990 and 1991 and was honoured with the team captaincy in 1993. Whilst at Austins Ferry, Leighton was an integral member of the College Band and was a member of the Student Representative Council and a House Captain. 

 After graduating from St Virgil’s in 1993, Leighton attended the University of Tasmania studying Medicine.  He gained his Bachelor of Medical Science with High Distiction in 1996, and in 1999 he gained a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor  of Surgery with First Class Honours  and was awarded the University Medal for Academic Excellence in the Faculty of Health Science.   

Leighton completed extensive post-graduate training at the Austin Hospital and Royal Brompton Hospital in the UK, where Leighton completed Fellowships in both Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging and Cardiac MRI.  He gained a PhD through the University of Melbourne in 2014.

Leighton has served a number of public appointments across Northern Health, Eastern Health and Monash Health, in addition to supporting patients within the private sector. Leighton’s expertise and tireless dedication to improving the lives of Heart Failure patients has resulted in his recent appointment as Director – Heart Failure Clinical Services with Genesis HeartCare Cardiovascular Research.

Leighton’s passion for improving patient outcomes through research, registry design and implementation of novel models of care has seen him as the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including from the National Heart Foundation. Recently, Leighton received the International Young Investigator Award at the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology for his PhD investigating valvular heart disease and techniques for detecting myocardial dysfunction. 

An author of many publications in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, Leighton frequently presents at National and International scientific congresses, and is actively involved in state-based medical education forums.

Leighton continued his athletics pursuits beyond his school days and was the winner of the Tasmanian 1500m championships in 1998 and was second on two other occasions.  He also competed in the Christmas carnivals on the North West Coast and finished in the placings on five occasions in the Burnie Mile without winning one.

Leighton is married to Katy Melrose, a specialist geriatrician, and they have two daughters, Lucy and Madeleine.  Both daughters have developed an interest in athletics and they, along with their dad, compete with Doncaster – Victoria’s premier athletics club.

In the September edition of OVAtions we will profile the third inductee Jack Riewoldt.