Scotland is home to Europe’s largest and most highly-regarded cardiovascular research community, including:
Dr Gillian A Gray
Edinburgh University
Gillian Gray is currently involved in research into:
- pharmacology of the endothelium;
- oestrogen and the cardiovascular (CV) system;
- CV structure/function in disease especially heart failure;
- human studies;
- experimental models;
- CV phenotyping; and,
- integrative physiology, in vivo, in vitro; molecular and immunocytochemical studies.
Dr Ian L Megson
Edinburgh University
Ian Megson is currently involved in research into:
- cardiovascular disease processes;
- new drugs for treating heart disease and stroke; and,
- nitric oxide (NO) in cardiovascular disease and the therapeutic potential of NO donor drugs.
Prof Stuart Malcolm Cobbe MA, MD, FRCP
Walton Professor of Medical Cardiology, University of Glasgow
Stuart Cobbe is the Chairman of the British Heart Foundation Heartstart Scotland Committee, and has been a member of the Medical Research Council Advisory Board since 1998.
His research interests include:
- basic cardiac electrophysiology and pharmacology of antiarrhythmic drugs;
- cardiac arrhythmias and electrophysiology;
- coronary prevention;
- cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and,
- cardiac failure and left ventricular hypertrophy.
Prof Jim Shepherd
University of Glasgow
Jim Shepherd enjoys word-wide recognition as a pioneer in the cause, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Over the last thirty years, Profr Shepherd’s work has evolved from the initial investigation of blood fats such as cholesterol, and the significance/clinical means of lowering them in the bloodstream to the ways in which different people metabolise blood fats. More recently he has been involved in investigative trials on the role of vascular inflammation in heart attacks and stroke.
During the 1980s he took a leading role in clinical trials investigating the benefits of cholesterol among people susceptible to heart attacks and strokes. This involved sharing knowledge and expertise with researchers worldwide and resulted in the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS), which ran from 1988 – 1995.
Since then, he has significantly evolved this research through PROSPER – the prospective study for the use of a widely prescribed drug, Paravastatin, in mature individuals (aged 70 – 82) who have already suffered a heart attack or stroke.
Through the international importance of this work, Prof Shepherd is now a senior adviser to studies in 18 countries worldwide and travels extensively to lecture and share his knowledge
Prof Anna Dominiczak
University of Glasgow
Anna Dominiczak is one of the world’s foremost researchers in cardiovascular health. She is the Director of the new British Heart Foundation Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, and coordinator of the Wellcome Trust functional genomics consortium. She is also an international fellow of the Council for high blood pressure research of the American Heart Association.
Her current work focuses on the interaction of genes and the environment to help understand susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.