Dr Yow Keat Tham is a Group Leader and Baker-La Trobe Senior Research Fellow whose work sits at the cutting edge of cardiovascular health — exploring how the body's lipids (fats) can be harnessed to prevent and treat heart disease.

Leading the Cardiovascular Lipidomics and Therapeutics program in the Metabolomics laboratory, Yow Keat combines advanced imaging, molecular biology and lipidomics to unlock new treatment pathways. His goal is clear: to develop innovative lipid-based therapies that could transform outcomes for people living with cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.

His research journey began with a fundamental question during his PhD at Monash University: why do lipids in the heart behave differently after exercise compared to heart failure? The answer led to groundbreaking discoveries about how manipulating specific lipids could protect the heart — findings published in leading journals including Nature Communications, Cell Reports and Diabetes.

Currently, Yow Keat's work explores whether these lipid changes can become tomorrow's therapies. By understanding how the heart's health influences the entire body's lipid system, his team is opening doors to treatments that don't yet exist.

Beyond the lab, Yow Keat is committed to nurturing the next generation of researchers. He has co-chaired Early Career Researcher committees at the Baker Institute and within the International Society for Heart Research, and currently serves as Graduate Research Coordinator for the La Trobe Baker Department of Cardiovascular Research, Translation and Implementation.