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The William Harvey Research Institute - Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

Cardiovascular

William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI) is an internationally acknowledged centre of excellence in the field of cardiovascular research and therapeutic innovation.

Cardiovascular
  1. WHRI
  2. Research
  3. Cardiovascular

We are proud to work closely with the Barts Heart Centre (BHC) at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, one of the largest secondary and tertiary cardiovascular centres in Europe.

Through Genomics to Mechanisms research, our vision is to deliver state-of-the-art treatments to 6 million Barts Health NHS Trust patients.

Cardiovascular research programmes at the WHRI and the Barts Heart Centre are closely aligned to maximise our collective expertise and strengths in areas such as pharmacological and device development that lead to innovative clinical trials for the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease whilst offering a range of professional training opportunities. Combined, our strategic approach enables the development and delivery of world-leading clinical care.

Key research areas

Genomics of Rare and Complex CV Traits (CAD, BP, Heart rhythm, Rare) - 100,000 Genomes Project, UK Biobank & International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium
Lead researchers: Deloukas, Munroe, Brown, Caulfield, Kelsell, Tinker, Barnes, Smedley, Petersen

Cardiac Inflammation & Immunology - Humanitas Partnership
Lead researchers: Marelli-Berg, Nourshargh, Rot, Mantovani, Chen

Cardiovascular Disease Therapeutics
Lead researchers: Ahluwalia, Hobbs, Thiemermann, Brown, Xiao, Caulfield, Aksentijevic, Chen

Device-Based and Imaging Based Innovation - EU Devices Centre/Yale Partnership
Lead researchers: Mathur, Lansky, Baumbach, Krams, Petersen

Stratified medicine and innovative trials - NICOR
Lead researchers: Brown, Caulfield, Deanfield

Stem cell research
Lead researchers: Mathur, Suzuki

Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging
Lead researcher: Petersen

Therapeutic Innovation and Pharmacology
Lead researcher: Aksentijevic

Key strategic funding awards

  • Our research and leadership changed NICE Guidance for blood pressure and cholesterol in 2006 and 2011.
  • We created and lead the Joint UK Society’s Working Group on Renal Denervation, produced the first consensus statement and are forming the UK registry for this technology.
  • We hold 6 BHF programme grants and 1 BHF Chair and a BHF 4 year MRes/PhD scheme. 
  • We have won two major EU Awards (€11m), a Medical Research Council (MRC) e-Health Centre (£4.5m joint with UCL, the School of Hygiene and Health Protection Agency)and a Grand Challenge Exploration Phase II award from the Gates Foundation.
  • The NIHR Barts Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).
  • We host multiple BHF Intermediate Basic Science and NIHR Awards.
  • Awarded the BHF PhD Studentship Scheme - 4 year PhD with MRes (2012).
  • Awarded the MRC MRes/PhDs cardiovascular and inflammation in-vivo research (2012).
  • NIHR Academic Fellows in Clinical Pharmacology and Clinical Lectureships in Cardiology, Clinical Pharmacology and Renal Medicine.

We have strong links to the Barts Health NHS Trust Cardiovascular Clinical Academic Group and University College (UCL) Institute of CV Sciences, UCL Heart Hospital and UCL Partners Integrated Cardiovascular System connecting bench to the clinic.

Our key partners include: 

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