Prof Raj Thakkar

PCCS President and CKD representative, Primary care cardiovascular society, GP Primary care cardiology lead, Oxford HIN Honorary Visiting Professor, Cardiff University Medical School, National EAGs for lipids and HF/HVD, NHSE National primary care workstream co-lead - cardiac transformation programme, NHSE UK Clinical Director, Healthy.io and Board observer, British Society of Heart Failure

Raj trained at University College London where he achieved a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and completed his medical degree in 1999. He went on to a GP training programme in the Oxford deanery during which time he completed postgraduate membership exams of both the Royal College of General Practitioners and Physicians. Raj went on to win the national GP enterprise award in his division. He also completed an enhanced GP registrar post in cardiology.  

Raj’s varied roles have included working as a GP partner since 2004, Clinical Commissioning Director in planned care, Cardiac Lead for Thames Valley Strategic Clinical Network, primary care cardiology lead for the Oxford Health Innovation Network (HIN) and atrial fibrillation champion for NHSIQ Thames Valley. He is also on the national expert advisory group for heart failure and valve disease and is currently the national primary care workstream co-lead for the cardiac transformation programme (NHSE). Raj sits on the editorial board for the British Journal of Cardiology.  

Raj has worked as a presenter on BBC Radio and is a medical writer, lecturer, speaker, and advisor. He has written and published over 200 articles and several books including the MIMS consultation guide which won the BMA book of the year award in the category of medicine in 2012. He has achieved two atrial fibrillation pioneer awards, was a national finalist for GP of the year in 2017 and a national HSJ finalist, 2019 for his work in atrial fibrillation. 

Dr Jim Moore

Past President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, GP, GPSI Cardiology, Gloucestershire

Dr Moore is a GP in Gloucestershire with a special interest in Cardiovascular Medicine and Past President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, spearheading significant changes in this organisation. He lectures extensively across the UK.

He has been heavily involved in National CVD advisory groups, guidelines and working parties. He was a member of the NICE Chronic Heart Failure in Adults Guideline committee (2016-2018) and was a board member of British Society for Heart Failure.

Dr Moore has provided cardiovascular clinical support to local commissioning organisations for over two decades and more recently to Cardiac Networks in the South-West. He is currently Clinical Co-Lead (Primary Care) for the West of England Integrated Cardiac Clinical Network.

Dr Moore is the National Clinical Co- Lead (Primary Care) for the National Cardiac Transformation Programme which has included working closely on NHSE initiatives such as Managing Heart Failure @Home and more recently chaired a group that developed the National (NHSE) guidance for the Virtual Ward care for people with heart failure (in publication).

He has been involved in the establishment and subsequent development of the community-based Gloucestershire Heart Failure service since its inception in 2003 where he continues to work as a GPSI.

Prof Ahmet Fuat

PCCS Council Member and former PCCS President, Honorary Professor of Primary Care Cardiology, Durham University, GP Appraiser and GPSI Cardiology, County Durham

Prof Ahmet Fuat PCCS Council Member and former PCCS President, Honorary Professor of Primary Care Cardiology, Durham University, GP Appraiser and GPSI Cardiology, County Durham

Professor Ahmet Fuat has recently retired as a GP in Darlington, Co.Durham after 37 years in the same practice and 41 years as a qualified doctor. He will continue to work as a GPSI Cardiology running a genetic lipid service for County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust, and take up a role as Medical Director for OBEROI Consulting.

He has been a GPSI Cardiology for 26 years having undertaken a Postgraduate Diploma in Cardiology at Bradford University graduating with distinction. He started the first one stop diagnostic and integrated heart failure clinic in the UK in 2002 with local colleagues.

He has a PhD in research in heart failure diagnosis and management, which includes work on natriuretic peptides and has generated several publications that influenced guidelines and led to his recognition as an Honorary Professor at Durham University.

He holds various roles in CVD and research including the immediate past President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society (PCCS) which he was instrumental in reforming and current education and research lead, and GP Research Engagement lead for NENC CRN.

He has a passion for medical education and remains an active lecturer, tutor and researcher. He is a peer reviewer for most high impact Cardiovascular journals, BMJ, BJGP and research bodies. His work in community cardiology has been recognised with Fellowships from the RCGP, RCP London and RCP Edinburgh and the PCCS.

Prof Terry McCormack

Immediate Past President BIHS; Professor of Primary Care Cardiovascular Medicine (Hon), Institute of Clinical and Applied Health Research, Hull York Medical School

Terry McCormack is a GP in Whitby, North Yorkshire, Professor of Primary Care Cardiovascular Medicine at Hull York Medical School (HYMS) and Immediate Past President of the British and Irish Hypertension Society. He is a primary care researcher, particularly interested in hypertension, lipids and anticoagulation.

In 2020 he was the winner of the HYMS Undergraduate Medicine Phase II and III Teacher of Excellence Award. Guideline work includes the NICE Hypertension, Perioperative Care and Venous Thromboembolism guideline committees and the AAGBI/BHS preoperative BP guideline. He is an editor of the British Journal of Cardiology and a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology

Trudie Lobban

CEO & Founder of STARS, A-A, The Heart Rhythm Charity, AF-Association and Patient Representative

Trudie Lobban MBE, FRCP Edin, established STARS (Syncope Trust And Reflex anoxic Seizures) charity following the diagnosis of her daughter with RAS and at the request of her paediatric neurologist in 1993. STARS has developed into an international non-profit organisation and Trudie is recognised worldwide as a patient expert on syncope and unexplained loss of consciousness.

Trudie was instrumental in organising and campaigning to introduce new standards in the UK for arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death with the successful launch of an extra chapter in the National Service Framework on Coronary Heart Disease by the government and Department of Health in the UK in 2004/5. Trudie went on to establish the Arrhythmia Alliance - The Heart Rhythm Charity®: working together to improve the diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for all those affected by arrhythmias.

A-A is a coalition of charities, patient groups, patients, carers, medical groups, policy makers, politicians, government officials and allied professionals. Although these groups remain independent, they work together under the A-A umbrella to promote timely and effective diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias.

In 2007, due to the high demand for information and resources on atrial fibrillation, Trudie launched the AF Association.

Trudie has provided a unique partnership between healthcare professionals, politicians, policy makers, patients and caregivers and allied professionals. Trudie was recognized for her Services to Healthcare when being made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2009.

The Charities Commission has congratulated her on providing such a service. All three charities are now international and established in more than 40 countries; Trudie is President/Chair internationally.

She was recognised for her contribution to medicine when she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Trudie is Chair or member of numerous Advisory Boards both nationally and internationally and is author/co-author of numerous publications and research projects. She sits on many committees – NICE, NHS, PHE, NICOR, NIHR, NHS SCIP, NCSPLC, AF Screen, BHRS & BCS Council, and numerous research committees – the only non-medical person to do so. Her services are called upon globally where she presents or contributes on the importance of patient involvement and HCP education to improve outcomes in the patient care pathways and delivery of health services. She is also an author and co-author of numerous medical papers relating to cardiac arrhythmias.

Trudie has authored and co-authored numerous papers, appeared in many journals, written a chapter for ‘Cardiology Clinics’ as well as involvement in countless media outlets. She has been interviewed on numerous TV and radio in the UK and globally including Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, Italy and media tours of USA talking on syncope, AF and arrhythmias. Trudie regularly meets with government officials, ambassadors, health ministers, royalty and Prime Ministers as well as Members of the European Parliament to highlight the need for improved services for people with cardiac arrhythmias and those delivering the service.

Dr Paul Ferenc

GP Partner, GPSI, Worcestershire and PCCS Treasurer

Graduated from Birmingham and completed foundation years in the North West., where I undertook a cardiology house job. Moved to Worcestershire to undertake GP training. Since 2015 I have been working at the local hospital in the cardiology department. Throughout this time, I have been heavily involved at primary care level in the improvement of cardiovascular disease monitoring and treatment, especially the use of anticoagulation and detection of AF.

I am lead for IHD, AF and heart failure within the practice, but also CVD lead in the PCN. I am currently a CVD Clinical Advisor for the local AHSN with the aim of improving outcomes for cardiovascular disease in the region. I also run local education sessions in cardiovascular disease.

Prof Derek Connolly

Consultant Cardiologist and Director of R&D at Birmingham City Hospital

Derek is a Consultant Cardiologist at Birmingham City Hospital, Birmingham UK and holds a honorary academic positions at both the University of Birmingham Institute of cardiovascular sciences and at Aston University medical School. Derek trained in Cambridge, London, Edinburgh and San Diego where he was a Carnegie Scholar. Derek has a first class degree in Pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh where he was the Brunton medallist and Keasbey Bursary holder. Derek’s PhD in molecular cardiology is from the University of Cambridge. Derek is the Chief or Primary Investigator of multiple large trials in Cardiovascular medicine. Derek developed one of the UKs first primary angioplasty programmes, and one of the UKs largest cardiac CT programmes. He has been a council member of the PCCS since it's refoundation.

Dr Hannah Wright

GP Registrar Trainee, GP ST2 (Reading and Newbury VTS), Honorary Clinical Teaching Fellow – Imperial College London

Hannah Wright is a GP Registrar in Reading and Newbury VTS. She studied undergraduate medicine at the University of Oxford, before completing Foundation Training and Core Medical Training in London. Subsequently, she spent a year as a National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow at HQIP (Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership) where her work focused on using National Clinical Audit data to drive Quality Improvement, as well as educating Junior Doctors about using Local and National data to drive improvement. Hannah then spent a year as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London, on their novel ‘Lifestyle Medicine and Prevention’ course, which involved teaching undergraduate medical students about the wider determinants of health and the power of preventative medicine. Her interests include Medical Education, Preventative Medicine and Quality Improvement.  

Beverley Bostock

PCCS Council Member, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Mann Cottage Surgery and Editor in Chief, Practice Nurse Journal

Beverley is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in general practice in Gloucestershire. She is also Editor in Chief of Practice Nurse journal. She qualified as an RGN at St George’s Hospital London and gained a BSc in Professional Nursing Studies after completing 2 years of an advanced clinical practice MSc at Wolverhampton University. She is an Independent Nurse Prescriber and holds an MSc in Respiratory Care and an MA in Medical Ethics and Law.

Beverley’s other qualifications include a Post Graduate Award in Diabetes Therapeutics from Warwick University.

Beverley has extensive educational experience developing modules in diabetes and CVD for an Open University-affiliated organisation and is an Expert Witness for a clinical negligence company. She has been a Queen’s Nurse since 2015, a title which is given to nurses who have demonstrated a high level of commitment to patient care and nursing practice.

Beverley is a council member for the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society and has worked on the Implementation Steering Group of Public Health England’s CVDPREVENT project and Oxford AHSN’s ‘Prevention of CVD during the pandemic’ guidance. She has also been a Visiting Lecturer in behaviour change at Imperial College London for the MSc in Preventive Cardiology.

Dr Sundhya Raman

PCCS Lifestyle Medicine Representative, BSc (hons) MBBS DPhil (Oxon) Dipl IBLM/BSLM

Dr Sundhya Raman is a medical doctor (Guys, Kings and St Thomas’s, 2007) with a BSc in Pharmacology & Physiology, a PhD (DPhil) in Genetics/Epigenetics is qualified in Lifestyle Medicine with the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine and the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.

She began her career as a clinical scientist, and aside from her DPhil at Oxford she worked in labs around the world including at Yale, University of Sydney and at the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, London.

Dr Raman is the founder and director of a lifestyle medicine health consultancy (My Wellness Doctor) which provides advice and support to educate and empower individuals to prevent illness, reverse disease, and optimise mental and physical wellbeing using evidence-based lifestyle modalities.

She has created a programme using lifestyle change to lower cholesterol in a primary care setting, and is the lead for virtual group consultations for diabetes at Plant Based Health Online.

Dr Raman regularly presents talks and teaching on lifestyle medicine and healthy ageing to both medical professionals (GP registrars, medical students, MIMs Learning Live, PCN training events) as well as to the lay public, including a focus on specific risks and solutions for BAME groups. She authored the diet section for JBS4 and co-authored the section on physical activity. She contributes to media publications on lifestyle advice to prevent chronic disease.

Prof Michael Norton

PCCS Secretary, Consultant Community Cardiologist, Visiting Professor of Community Cardiology and Deputy Medical Director, Dept of Community Cardiology, Sunderland and North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Professor Michael Norton is a Consultant Community Cardiologist and Visiting Professor of Community Cardiology based in the North East of England. Michael runs the Dept. of Community Cardiology in Sunderland. He is also the Deputy Medical Director of the North East Ambulance Service and is clinically active in pre-hospital emergency medicine. Michael has significant experience in syncope and related disorders having worked for over eighteen years (six as head of Department) within the Falls & Syncope Service at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. Michael’s main clinical and research interests are cardiovascular risk reduction, neuro-cardiovascular syncope and cardiac arrest. He is a director and national council member of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society. He is also the co-founder of Cardioproof, a community interest company, which aims to improve survival from cardiac arrest by increasing bystander CPR and use of public access defibrillators.

John Campbell

PCCS Council Member and Nurse Practitioner with special interest in Cardiology, Woodbridge Medical Practice

John works as a nurse practitioner with specialist interest in cardiology in a busy primary care practice in Teesside. As well as providing acute minor ailments service, John maintains a role with patients with a range of long-term cardiac conditions and has special interest in atrial fibrillation.

John spent 6 years as a nurse consultant developing nurse-led services including thrombolysis in Accident and Emergency, Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic, and Nurse-led Myocardial Perfusion Service, and contributed to the national development of extended nurse prescribing from its introduction in 2002.

John has worked in primary care since 2012 and was a member of the national guideline development group with the updating of the NICE guidelines for Atrial Fibrillation that were published in June 2014.

Dr Chris Arden

GPSI Cardiology, Editor-in-Chief for PCCJ, Winchester, Hampshire

Chris Arden is a GP near Winchester, Hampshire. He also works in community cardiac clinics in Southampton and Winchester as a GPSI in cardiology, assessing patients with suspected heart failure, atrial fibrillation, palpitations, hypertension and valvular heart disease.

The community cardiac service provides echocardiography, ambulatory ECG, blood pressure and event recorder monitoring; receiving consultant mentorship support from secondary care and working in partnership with specialist heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation nursing colleagues.

He does a weekly stress echo clinic at Southampton General Hospital and has BSE accreditation in echocardiography.

Chris Arden is Editor in Chief of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Journal, a member of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, British Society of Echocardiography, British Society of Heart Failure and British Heart Valve Society. He is on the editorial board of the British Journal of Cardiology.

Graham Cooper

Trustee, The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust and Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals

Graham Cooper is a Trustee of The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust, Past president of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland and recently retired consultant cardiac surgeon and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals with a specialist clinical interest in thoracic aortic surgery.  Clinical Lead for the implementation of NHS England’s Acute Aortic Dissection (AAD) Toolkit across England and Wales and working with NHS England on the development of the Elective Toolkit for aortic dissection.

Emma Gee

Nurse Consultant in thrombosis and coagulation at King's College Hospital in London

Emma Gee is a nurse consultant in thrombosis and coagulation at King's College Hospital in London and leads the VTE Specialists Network (VSN), a National network for nurses and allied health professionals.  Emma is also the associate director of the VTE Exemplar Centres Network, a National Network of centres with a track record of high quality VTE prevention care.

She qualified as a nurse at the University of Brighton in 2001 and gained experience in a variety of specialities post registration before joining King's College Hospital in 2004 where she worked in critical care.  In 2007 she joined King's Thrombosis Team and subsequently become a nurse consultant in 2014, leading a team of nurses covering anticoagulation, VTE prevention and DVT management. 

She has a specialist interest in leadership, completing an MSc in Advanced Practice and Leadership and the prestigious Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholarship.

Dr Luca Faconti

Clinical Lecturer in Cardiovascular Clinical Pharmacology, Honorary Consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

My clinical research career began in 2008 when I joined the European Centre of Excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of arterial hypertension whilst studying Medicine at the University of Pisa. After completing my medical training, my passion for research inspired me to join King’s College London in 2015, where I developed an interest in the influence of ethnicity on cardiovascular disease. Since 2016, I have been supported by King’s College London British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence and in 2021 I completed a PhD in Cardiovascular Medicine. My research focuses on hypertension and hypertension mediated target organ damage including arterial stiffness and cardiac remodelling. I joined the British and Irish Hypertension Society in 2016 and I'm currently the Tresurer of the Society after serving 4 years in the Executive Committee as Young Investigator Representative.

Dr Katherine Hickman

GP Partner in Bradford, Respiratory Lead for West Yorkshire ICB, Primary Care Lead for NRAP, and Executive Chair of PCRS

Katherine qualified from Leeds University in 2000. She originally did a Medicine Rotation acquiring her MRCP before settling into General Practice. She is a GP Partner in Bradford. Katherine is the Respiratory Lead for West Yorkshire ICB, Primary Care Lead for NRAP, and Executive Chair of PCRS. Outside of work she enjoys cooking, baking, yoga, and outdoor swimming and has recently rediscovered her love for singing and joined a choir.

Jules Payne

Chief Executive HEART UK – The Cholesterol Charity

Jules Payne , Chief Executive of HEART UK – The Cholesterol Charity (www.heartuk.org.uk) has over 20 years’ experience in the charity sector.  Since joining HEART UK in August 2010 she considers her role to be the best job in the world!  She has patients and their families at her heart, and everything she does is to their benefit.  She is extremely driven and passionate about HEART UK’s support, education and influencing services.  These activities raise awareness and provides support to millions of people each year and most importantly, saves lives.

Jules has led HEART UK’s policy efforts to keep cardiovascular disease a top health priority for the Government and the NHS. Lipids, including cholesterol are a silent killer and her biggest driver is to ensure all those with the problem are identified as early as possible, properly treated and managed, lives are saved and families are kept together.  Whilst the UK are a long way forward with CVD, there is still much to do and Jules is leading the HEART UK charge to resolve the problem and is doing so in collaboration with volunteers, supporters, the public, other organisations with our shared goals, and of course the NHS system too.

Prof Kausik Ray FMedSci

Professor of Public Heath, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Imperial College London & Honorary Consultant Cardiologist, Imperial College NHS Trust

Prof Ray is currently President of the European Atherosclerosis Society, Chair of the World Heart Federation Cholesterol Roadmap, Chair for Global Council for Heart Health, National Lead for CVD NIHR Academic research Collaboration, Clinical Director for Research HDR UK Digital Innovation Hub DISCOVER Now, Director of ICTU-Global which is an academic ARO. He received his medical education (MB ChB, 1991) at the University of Birmingham Medical School, his MD (2004) at the University of Sheffield, a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and finally an MPhil in epidemiology (2007) from the University of Cambridge. His research involves lipids, diabetes and population health serving as global lead for trials and registries. He has >160,000 citations and since 2018 has been recognised by Clarivate Analytics as among the top 0.1% of authors in global medicine. In 2023 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, which is UK’s highest honour for clinician scientists.

Prof Richard Hobbs

Mercian Professor of Primary Care, Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, and Director of the Institute for Applied Digital Health at the University of Oxford

Richard Hobbs is presently the Mercian Professor of Primary Care, Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, and Director of the Institute for Applied Digital Health at the University of Oxford. He is also a Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Oxford, sits on the University Council, its governing body, and is a University Trustee. He is also a director and current chair of PROXEMIS, a joint venture between the University of Oxford and EMIS, and a director of OUPD, a university joint venture with Legal and General.

Richard has served on many national and international scientific and research funding boards in UK, Ireland, Canada, and WHO, including the BHF Council, British Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, and the ESC Council for Cardiovascular Primary Care. He currently chairs the European and International Primary Care Cardiovascular Societies, a WONCA Special Interest Group. He was the National Director, NIHR School for Primary Care Research (2008-2021) and National Director, NHS Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) Review Panel (2005-09).

He is one of the world’s leading academics in primary care, developing Oxford Primary Care into one of the largest and most highly ranked centres for academic primary care globally. He has made major contributions to growing primary care academic capacity, in terms of people development and research networks. A highly cited primary care clinician scientist, he has authored over 600 peer reviewed publications, has an h-index of 114, with >127,000 citations (115 papers with >100 citations, 17 papers >1000, and 15 papers >2000). He has an outstanding track record in cardiovascular disease research, delivering trials that changed international guidelines and practice, especially in the areas of heart failure burden and diagnosis (ECHOES and REFER trials), chronic kidney disease (BARACK-D RCT, OxREN), stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (BAFTA, SAFE, and SMART trials), and hypertension self-management (TASMINH 1-5). He also leads a new Institute of Applied Digital Science at Oxford, with 8 globally impactful PIs and their multi-disciplinary teams covering real-time disease surveillance, cohort linkage studies, validated risk scores and clinical decision rules, pharmaco-epidemiology, digitally-enabled patient self-management, practice performance dashboards and prescribing e-interventions, and a novel pragmatic digital trial platform (ORCHID).  At the onset of COVID-19 he re-tasked much of his research to urgent COVID studies and is PI or co-PI of all the main UK National Urgent Public Health Priority Studies in primary care, including the national repurposed therapies platform trial (PRINCIPLE), national COVID & Flu Surveillance for HSE (ORCHID), the national PC diagnostics platform trial (RAPTOR/CONDOR), and the national COVID novel anti-viral platform trial ({PANORAMIC). He also led a population COVID screening pilot trial using lateral flow tests (FACTS) as part of the Prime Minister’s Operation Moonshot, which was also the mechanism used at Oxford for early College access to student and staff testing.   

He was the fifth recipient of the RCGP Discovery Prize in 2018 (occasional awards since 1953), received an inaugural Distinguished Researcher Shine Prize and Best Oral Presentation Prize at WONCA World Congress in 2018, and was awarded a CBE for services to medical research in the 2019 New Year Honours List.

Helen Eftekhari

British Heart Foundation funded nursing PhD fellow at the University of Warwick

Helen is currently a British Heart Foundation funded nursing PhD fellow at the University of Warwick. Helen’s research project a specialist area of interest is in Postural orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and supportive self-management. Helen runs a PoTS clinic one day a week at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwick.

Helen has over 25 years’ experience in cardiovascular specialist nursing roles, including arrhythmia and syncope, heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation. Helen has presented at national and international forums, published in international journals, is a peer reviewer for multiple journals and is an editorial board member for the British Journal of Cardiac Nursing. Helen has been a council member for the British Association of Nursing in Cardiovascular Care (BANCC) and is the current president. 

Dr Gherardo Finocchiaro

Consultant Cardiologist at St George’s Hospital and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at St George’s University of London

Dr Finocchiaro completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training at University of Trieste (Italy). He then spent one year at Stanford University (CA, US), focusing his research on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and athlete’s heart, gaining a post-doctoral diploma. He subsequently specialised cardiovascular magnetic resonance at The Heart Hospital imaging centre and at St George’s Hospital in London. Gherardo has level 3 accreditation in CMR (EACVI) and is accredited in echocardiography by the British Society of Echocardiography.

He completed a PhD at St George’s University of London focusing on sudden death in athletes, family screening in decedents of sudden death and physiological adaptation to exercise. Dr Finocchiaro won several awards and grants for his research and he was a finalist for the European Society of Cardiology Young Investigator Award in 2015. Dr Finocchiaro published several papers in highly ranked international journals

Allyson Arnold

Chief Operating Officer, BHF Clinical Research Collaborative

With over 20 years’ experience in a variety of health care and research settings, Allyson has worked alongside numerous national and international organisations including WHO, CDC, USAID, NHS England, Public Health England and Academic Health Science Networks.  Following a career in nursing and midwifery, Allyson obtained a Masters in Development Management and started work in international development, first as Director of the Mater Hospital Cardiac Programme in Nairobi, Kenya and subsequently as Assistant Director for the International Medical Corps Midwifery Programme at the Rabia Balkhi Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan.  After returning from overseas, Allyson specialised in third sector management, holding various leadership posts with Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation (BHF).  Her roles with the BHF include Diagnostics and Innovations Manager and Health Services Engagement Lead, where she was responsible for leading the development of communities of practice networks at a locality and national level. She took on the role of Chief Operating Officer for the BHF Clinical Research Collaborative from the start of the initiative in 2019. 

Dr Lisa Anderson

Consultant Cardiologist at St George’s Hospital, London

Dr Anderson chairs the British Society for Heart Failure, the NHS England Heart Failure Expert Advisory Group and the ESC HFA Women in HF Taskforce.

Dr Anderson led the project to open the UK's first Acute Heart Failure Unit and wrote the proposal for the NCEPOD enquiry into deaths in Acute Heart Failure (2018).

Dr Anderson has acted as clinical expert for NICE Technology Appraisals (TA10946, TA10942, TA388) and the BMA Expert Review Group for TA267.

Dr Anderson has research Interests in V122I TTR cardiac amyloid, cardiorenal HF and acute heart failure.

Dr Anderson’s subspecialty is CMR. Dr Anderson developed a T2* sequence for the detection of cardiac iron, and the paper remains one of the most cited in the field. CMR T2* led rapidly to 70% mortality reduction in Thalassaemia patients in the UK. The T2* sequence is now the International Standard and installed on all CMR scanners from all vendors.

Dr Eirini Lioudaki

Consultant Nephrologist, King's College Hospital

I am a consultant Nephrologist at King’s college hospital and honorary senior clinical lecturer at King’s College London.

 I trained in Renal medicine within the South London Deanery and hold a PhD in Diabetic Nephropathy. I was appointed as a substantive renal consultant at King’s College Hospital in 2019 and my main areas of expertise include transplantation, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in patients with renal disease.

Most of my published research is focused on cardiovascular disease and risk factors in association with kidney disease and I have been involved in the authorship of guidelines for Renal Association and British Transplant Society.

Helen Williams

National Specialty Adviser for CVD Prevention, NHSE and Consultant Pharmacist for CVD, SE London ICB and UCL Partners

Helen is the National Speciality Adviser for CVD Prevention at NHS England and is working on delivery of the national CVD ambitions for AF, Blood Pressure and Cholesterol in the NHS Long Term Plan. Helen has worked as a CVD specialist for more than 25 years across all care settings. She was clinical adviser to the national AF programme and developed the pharmacist-led virtual clinic model to optimise uptake of anticoagulation in AF, which has now been spread nationally. Helen has recently been appointed as one of the long term conditions lead for South East London Integrated Care System and is also working at UCLPartners on the implementation of proactive care frameworks for long-term conditions to support primary care in the post COVID-19 environment.

Dr Yassir Javaid

MA (Cantab) FRCP FRCGP PGDip Cardiology, GPwSI Cardiology

Dr Javaid qualified from Cambridge University and completed his VTS training in Northampton. He has a specialist interest in cardiology and echocardiography and was a clinical lead in the Northamptonshire Community Cardiology service, which had a focus on patients with heart failure and valve disease. He was also the primary care Cardiovascular lead for the East Midlands Clinical Network from 2013-2020. He was named Pulse “GP of the Year” in 2015 for his work in reducing stroke emergency admissions in the East Midlands. He is on the editorial board for the British Journal of Cardiology and a trustee of Heart Valve Voice.