Professor Adrian James Brendan Brady

27^th May 1961 – 28^th January 2026

Professor Adrian Brady recently passed away following a long battle with acute myeloid leukaemia. Despite his illness having reached a terminal stage he presented a lecture at the PCCS 3rd Scotland Conference on 13th November 2025. Prior to that he had presented a keynote lecture at the SHARP Conference in Crieff. He also liaised with our Society on a research study that will be published posthumously in the British Journal of Cardiology.

Adrian was known for his charm and wonderful smile. He was much in demand around the world as a speaker because of his brilliant mind and superb presentations, always delivered in an immaculate suit and tie.

Adrian Brady was the 19^th President of the British Hypertension Society and led the BHS to include ‘Irish’ in their name in 2016. He was also recently President of the Scottish Cardiac Society and a Trustee of SHARP.

Graduating from Edinburgh University Medical School in 1985, summa cum laude and with an intercalated BSc in physiology, he went on to have a very distinguished career in research and cardiology. His MD thesis “Nitric Oxide and Cardiac Myocyte Contraction” was cited over 600 times and won him the 1993 American Heart Association “Melvin L Marcus Young Investigator Award”, the first non-American to do so. Numerous research papers and honours followed, including no fewer than seven international visiting professorships. One proud achievement was to lead the Football Health Scotland study of dietary and lifestyle therapy in middle-aged men.

But there was more to Adrian than just clinical and academic top achievement. As a youngster he was a chorister at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral Edinburgh and his love for music included being a terrific pianist and guitar player. He was a first-class skier, participating in the UK National Ski Championships as a young man and skiing with his family in Zermatt as recently as November 2025. A member of the Royal Troon Golf Club, his close friends described him as an eternally optimistic golfer.

His funeral mass was held at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh on Friday 13^th February and was followed by a Celebration of Life at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh and is available on YouTube (see link). A highlight is the playing of a song written by Adrian. The priest at his funeral pointed out that but for Adrian’s treatment of him five years ago, when he was seriously ill, he would not have been there that day to perform the service. An example of Adrian’s dedication to the service of his patients.

But above all he was a family man and he will be deeply missed by his wife Una, his children, Catriona, James, Emma, stepsons Daniel and Pearce, grandchildren Rory and Blair and his many, many friends.

May his memory be a blessing.

Written by: Prof Terry McCormack & Dr James Brady