Philip J. Barter, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., F.R.A.C.P., is currently the Director of The Heart Research Institute (Sydney, Australia) and Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney, and is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Task Force for Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease and a Member of the Executive Board of the International Atherosclerosis Society, and Chairman of the Metabolic Syndrome Institute.

His research areas include plasma lipids and lipoproteins, specifically high density lipoproteins, the factors that regulate them, and the mechanism by which they protect against cardiovascular disease. His clinical research involves participation in clinical trials of lipid-lowering agents. He is a member of the steering committees of the FIELD and TNT Studies measuring the effects of lipid lowering, and was Chairman of the steering committee of ILLUMINATE, an international multi-center morbidity and mortality endpoint trial of the effects of the CETP (cholesterol ester transfer protein) inhibitor, Torcetrapib.

He has published more than 200 research papers on plasma lipids and lipoproteins, their metabolism, regulation, function, and relationship to atherosclerosis.

He graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Adelaide, and received his Ph.D. from the Australian National University.