Dear all,

The current Cambridge British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Research Excellence will end this year, over 5 years since we started. Amongst other notable events, the Centre has seen the opening of the Heart and Lung Institute, the expansion of Cambridge Cardiovascular, and the successful transition of many of our fellows who held 1- or 2-year fellowships to personal external funding. We have supported 8 Career Development Fellows and 2 Intermediate-level fellows, and to date 6 centre-funded CDFs and 2 IRFs have been awarded further fellowships or lectureships, including 2 BHF SRFs, 2 BHF IRFs, and 1 Wellcome Trust CDF. We supported 7 non-clinical PhD students, supervised by scientists from different disciplines to ensure collaboration, and six 1-year entry-level Clinical Research Training Fellows, 5 of which were awarded 2-year fellowships or funding to complete their PhD. The centre has also supported 2 large interdisciplinary ‘flagship’ scientific projects and multiple smaller pump priming grants, designed to get pilot data for substantive applications. In addition, the Centre has supported our education, public engagement and outreach programmes, to communicate our research to the wider public. 

As I write, we do not know the outcome of our application to renew the Centre, but may do by the time of the meeting. Whatever, the outcome, I think we can be proud of what you all have achieved. Finally, I would like to thank Jane and Denise our Centre Manager and Cambridge Cardiovascular Research Coordinator respectively, who have worked tirelessly to manage everyone and everything involved.  

I hope you enjoy our 2024 annual symposium. 

Martin Bennett  

Director, Cambridge British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Research Excellence