CVS receives £5 million funding from BHF

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has awarded CVS £5 million in funding to support our world-class cardiovascular disease research over the next five years.

“We are delighted to be the recipient of this prestigious award which will enable us to deliver a step-change in our research into heart and circulatory diseases, stroke, vascular dementia, and diabetes,” says David Newby, BHF Duke of Edinburgh Professor of Cardiology in CVS. “The award will accelerate our drive to identify new discoveries across disciplines and to establish the next generation of science and scientific researchers with the ultimate aim of improving the lives of our patients.”

The funding will support the University of Edinburgh in cultivating a world-class research environment that encourages collaboration, inclusion and innovation, and where visionary scientists can drive lifesaving breakthroughs.

This award is part of a much-needed £35 million boost to UK cardiovascular disease research from the BHF. The funding comes from the charity’s highly competitive Research Excellence Awards funding scheme. The £5 million award to CVS will support researchers to:

• Investigate how hardening of the major arteries develops throughout the body to cause heart attacks, strokes, and circulatory problems, and how this interacts with the body’s immune and nervous systems.
• Discover how small blood vessel disease in the brain causes strokes and vascular dementia so that we can develop and test new ways to prevent and to treat these major health problems.
• Accelerate our understanding of how the body’s metabolism in fat, immune, and kidney tissue causes heart and circulatory problems throughout life: from the womb through to old age.
• Deliver new ways of using routinely collected health data with DataLoch to identify those at risk of heart attacks or strokes, and to embed this into health records systems to prevent diseases before they occur.

Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the BHF, says: “We’re delighted to continue to support research at the University of Edinburgh addressing the biggest challenges in cardiovascular disease. This funding recognises the incredible research happening at Edinburgh and will help to further its reputation as a global leader in the field.

“With generous donations from our supporters, this funding will attract the brightest talent, power cutting-edge science, and unlock lifesaving discoveries that can turn the tide on the devastation caused by heart and circulatory diseases.”

David McColgan, Head of BHF Scotland, says: “It is great news that the University of Edinburgh has once again been recognised as a centre of research excellence. Scotland has a strong tradition of leading the way in cardiovascular research and today's announcement will further reinforce this for years to come.”