The best moment of my career so far has been the transition from being a trainee focused on individual technical performance to becoming someone responsible for building a program and shaping a culture.
My fellowship at the University of Washington Medical Center was transformative, particularly training under Dr. William Lombardi and colleagues who approach complex coronary intervention with both technical precision and a systems mindset. But the defining moment came after returning home to Perth.
Stepping into a consultant role at Royal Perth Hospital and beginning to build a Complex Coronary Therapeutics program has been deeply meaningful. Moving beyond just performing procedures to creating pathways, mentoring others, and establishing a culture where complex, high-risk PCI can be delivered safely and consistently has been the most rewarding shift.
It is not a single case or technical success that stands out, but the realisation that impact at scale comes from systems, not just skill. That transition, from operator to program builder, has been the most defining moment of my career so far.
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What do you love doing outside of work?
Outside of work, my priority is spending time with my family. I have a 5-year-old daughter and, together with my wife, those moments are what I value most. Slowing things down, being present, and seeing the world through my daughter's eyes provides a perspective that medicine often does not allow. It is grounding and a constant reminder of what all of this is ultimately for.
I also make time for the gym and catching up with friends. Maintaining physical conditioning is important to me, not just for general health, but because the demands of complex interventional work require endurance, focus, and resilience over long cases. It is a way of investing in my ability to perform at a high level consistently.
More recently, I have developed a real passion for pickleball. I enjoy the combination of strategy, precision, and competition, as well as the social side of the game. It is one of the few environments where I can completely switch off and be fully present, while still engaging that same mindset of timing, control, and decision-making under pressure.
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What is something people don't know about you?
Something people don't often know about me is that I have a musical background. I used to play in a Chinese orchestra, performing both percussion and the erhu.
The erhu is a traditional two-stringed bowed instrument, sometimes referred to as the Chinese violin, although it has a very distinct sound. It is played upright, with the bow threaded between the two strings, which creates a remarkably expressive, almost vocal quality. It requires quite a fine level of control, as there is no fingerboard, so pitch is entirely dependent on positioning and feel.
That experience shaped a lot of how I think about precision and rhythm. Whether in music or in the cath lab, there is a similar balance between technical control and intuition that I have always found fascinating.
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Tell us about the quote.
One quote that has stayed with me, particularly in both medicine and leadership, is:
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Will Durant
It resonates because it reinforces that high performance is not about occasional moments of brilliance, but about consistency, discipline, and the systems we build around ourselves every day.
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If you could ask the entire IC community one question, what would it be?
If we truly want to improve outcomes in complex and CTO PCI, how do we move our field toward reproducibility and safety at scale, rather than anchoring success to individual operators?
We have reached a point where technical capability is no longer the primary limitation. The next step is building systems, training pathways, and team-based cultures that make complex PCI consistently safe and deliverable, regardless of who is holding the wire. That likely requires a shift away from ego and individual validation, and toward shared standards, transparency, and collective learning.
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Check out Dr. Ng's contributions to SCAI:
Primero Ng, MBBS, FSCAI | SCAI