18 August 2011

A joint award of over £6.5m has been awarded following open competition to Barts and The London NHS Trust and Barts and The London Medical and Dental School by the Department of Health from their partnership’s successful application for National Institute for Health Research Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit designation and funding.

This builds on major investment at Barts and The London in cardiovascular translational research in the new £25m William Harvey Heart Centre which complements the new hospital at Barts. This has been greatly assisted by the support of NIHR through our existing Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit which has established a Centre for Advanced Cardiac Imaging. This will enable new award accelerated translation of concepts at the bench into patients over the next five years from 1 April 2012.

The Trust and School’s joint application fulfilled selection criteria on the basis of international research excellence; plans for increasing research capacity and ability to undertake experimental research; the relevance of research to patients and the public; its record of translating biomedical research into clinical research, and the strengths of its strategic partnerships.

Peter Morris, Chief Executive of Barts and The London NHS Trust said in 2009 more than 180,000 people died from cardiovascular disease which equates to one in three deaths, making it the UK’s biggest killer.

“This award of £6.5 million will significantly help researchers find better ways to treat cardiovascular disease.

“With the country’s biggest heart attack centre located within Barts and The London our specialists deal with the human cost of heart disease on a daily basis.

“Barts and The London NHS Trust has a long history of pioneering new research and I look forward to seeing the new therapies, better drugs and potential cures that could potentially result from this generous research grant.”

Professor Mark Caulfield, Director of the William Harvey Research Institute, who led the application on behalf of Barts and The London said: “This investment by the National Institute for Health Research is a major endorsement of Barts and The London’s research strategy to accelerate the progress of new therapies for heart disease and stroke into patient care in North East London”.

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