The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has awarded the University of Cambridge £6 million to expand and accelerate its pioneering work through the Cambridge BHF Centre of Research Excellence.
The renewed Centre (2019-2024) is led by Prof Martin Bennett and managed by Dr Katja Kivinen, and brings together 32 world-leading research groups across the University of Cambridge, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Babraham Institute and MRC Mitochondrial Biology, Biostatistics & Epidemiology Units.
The Centre provides a focus for cardiovascular researchers in Cambridge and strengthens internal collaborations through funding for studentships, fellowships, and pilot projects. It also supports the integration of research groups within the planned Cambridge Heart and Lung Research Institute (HLRI), for which the fundraising is ongoing.
The overarching aim of the Centre is to advance understanding of cardiovascular conditions by applying our combined expertise in generating assumption-free approaches.
The Centre has four main research themes:
The Centre is led by a Steering group representing the main research themes:
- Prof Martin Bennett (Director 2019-2024)
- Prof John Danesh (Lead, Population Sciences)
- Prof Ziad Mallat (Lead, Vascular Medicine)
- Prof Nick Morrell (Vascular Medicine)
- Dr Jane Osbourn (MedImmune)
- Prof Willem Ouwehand (Functional Genomics)
- Prof Nicole Soranzo (Lead, Functional Genomics)
- Prof Toni Vidal-Puig (Lead, Cardiometabolic Medicine)
- Prof Ian Wilkinson (Lead, Translation)
The Centre has appointed a Scientific Advisory Board to give it guidance and feedback:
- Prof Calum MacRae (Harvard University)
- Prof Dan Rader (University of Pennsylvania)
- Prof Peter Weissberg (retired, formerly BHF Medical Director)
- Prof Martin Wilkins (Imperial College London)
