Professor MacMahon is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, (DSc Medicine, 2006, PhD Medicine 1985) and the University of Sydney (MPH Epidemiology 1989).  He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (1990), the American Heart Association (2001), and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (2005), and was a founding member of the American Society of Hypertension, the Australian Epidemiological Association, and the Asia Pacific Society of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Disease.

Professor MacMahon holds several international board appointments, including chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board, MRC-Wellcome UK BioBank Project, (Manchester, UK); chairman of the Council of the Initiative on Cardiovascular Health Research in Developing Countries, (Geneva, Switzerland) and chairman of the Academic Alliance for Clinical Trials (Delaware, USA). He was the founder and chief investigator of a number of pivotal studies of cardiovascular diseases including, the ADVANCE, PROGRESS and PEP trials, the Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration and the APCSC (Asia Pacific Cohort Study Collaboration).

Professor MacMahon has given more than 200 lectures at symposia and conferences around the world. His active commitment to the field has led to the publication of over 250 papers in many of the most prestigious international journals. For his work on the causes, treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, he was awarded The Medical Foundation Horonary Fellowship by the University of Sydney (2000), the Sir John Eccles Award by the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (2001), and the Astra Zeneca Prize for Cardiovascular Research by the International Society of Hypertension (2006).