About Cardiovascular Sciences

The Department of Cardiovascular Sciences is part of the College of Life Sciences and one of five departments within the College that make up the Leicester Medical School.

Cardiovascular research has been a major strength of the Leicester Medical School since its inception. Find out more about the range of our research.

We have around 130 staff, including over 40 academics, with large numbers of PhD, MD and other postgraduate students. The academic members of staff cover the broad range of cardiovascular disciplines. The Department is purely postgraduate, apart from intercalating medical students. Departmental staff members contribute to teaching on the medical course as well as for degrees in the School of Biological Sciences.

The Department hosts two British Heart Foundation-funded Chairs (Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery) and hosts a National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre in Cardiovascular disease. The core cardiovascular disciplines are Cardiovascular Precision and Stratified Medicine: Biomarkers, Genomics and Imaging and Cardiovascular Protection and Intervention.

The Department has a laboratory, and clinical and office facilities at Glenfield Hospital, the Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Henry Wellcome Building at the University of Leicester. These provide an environment in which research can be translated 'from bench to bedside' and give opportunities for scientists and clinicians to work together. This integration of clinical medicine and laboratory science creates excellent opportunities for staff and students to undertake research that will have a real impact on the lives of patients.

The Department works closely with the Cardio-Respiratory Directorate of the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust. The Trust provides secondary and tertiary level cardiovascular care for 1.9 million people. The population, which has a significant proportion of ethnic minority individuals of South Asian origin, has a higher-than-average prevalence of cardiovascular diseases compared with other parts of the UK. 

In many relevant areas of clinical service delivery - cardiology, vascular medicine, vascular surgery, cardiac surgery, hypertension, heart failure and stroke medicine - academic staff play a leading role. The NHS/University partnership has over 35 senior UHL and University staff engaged in research in the cardiovascular field, with expertise spanning from cardiovascular imaging and intervention to molecular and cellular analysis.