Professor Derek M Yellon (Director)
Prof Derek M.Yellon, PhD, DSc, FRCP (Hon), FACC, FESC, FAHA
Derek M Yellon is Professor of Molecular & Cellular Cardiology at University College London. Professor Yellon established the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute in 1991 and continues to lead as its Director.
In 1993 he was appointed Professor of Molecular & Cellular Cardiology at University College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians; the American College of Cardiology; the European Society of Cardiology; the International Society for Heart Research, the American Heart Association, and the British Cardiovascular Society. He also holds an Hon Professorial post in the Division of Medicine at the University of Cape Town.
Professor Yellon established the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute at UCL as a specialized translational research institution to investigate myocardial protection, the pathophysiology of ischaemia/reperfusion injury and cardioprotection in the setting of diabetes, & molecular aspects of ischaemic injury, in both the basic and clinical arena. Through the work of the past 30 years, Professor Yellon has now developed complementary programmes including protecting the heart following chronic kidney disease, ischaemic stroke and cardioprotection following cancer therapy (see research).
Under Professor Yellon’s guidance, the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute has developed a strong reputation in these areas, leading on international clinical trials and forging strong collaborative links with both industry and academia. The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute also runs a range of international & national education & postgraduate training programme (see education & training)
Professor Yellon is on the editorial board of several major Cardiovascular Journals and has published in excess of 600 full papers and edited 23 books. Professor Yellon has a current h-index of 140 and was named as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Research Team
Prof J. Malcolm Walker, BSc, MD, FRCP (Clinical Director)
Professor Malcolm Walker trained in cardiology at St Thomas’ Hospital London, then Oxford before being appointed as a Consultant Cardiologist at University College & the Middlesex Hospitals, London in 1987. Together with Professor Yellon, Professor Walker was instrumental in establishing the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute and continues to serve as its Clinical Director.
Over his 40 years of clinical experience, Professor Walker has developed an expertise in cardiology ranging from intervention in ischaemia to the development of cardiac rehabilitation programmes. Throughout this time, he has maintained a strong focus on inherited blood conditions. In 1993 he established a dedicated cardiology service for patients with thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia and has earned an international reputation in this specialised area of medicine. His work developing specialised T2* MRI sequences has resulted in a significant reduction in mortality for these patients. Recently he has built on his experience in cardiac screening and has embarked on a clinical and laboratory research programme investigating the cardiovascular consequences of cancer and cancer therapy.
He is on the scientific boards of the national and international bodies that support thalassaemia patients (UKTS and TIF) and has written the National and International guidelines for clinical management of these disorders. Professor Walker is the author of over 120 publications and book contributions.
Prof Derek Hausenloy, MBChB, PhD, FRCP (UK), FACC, FESC
Derek Hausenloy is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at University College London and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at UCLH. As Professor at Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School and Research Director and Senior Consultant at the National Heart Centre, Singapore, Professor Hausenloy is a key collaborator for the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute.
Professor Hausenloy conducts both basic and clinical research in the areas of ischaemic heart disease, heart failure, cardioprotection, cardiac MRI, cardiac PET/MR, acute ischaemia/reperfusion injury, and cardiac disease modelling using human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. His research focus is on discovering novel therapies for protecting the heart against the detrimental effects of acute ischaemia/reperfusion injury to prevent the onset of heart failure. He uses a translational approach to cardioprotection ranging from cellular and animal models of acute ischaemia/reperfusion injury to proof-of-concept clinical studies in acute myocardial infarction and cardiac bypass surgery patients, and finally to large multi-centre randomised clinical trials focused on clinical outcomes. Prof Hausenloy has been PI on over 30 research grants, and he has authored over 350 papers with an h-index of 101 (43,487 citations). He was named as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Email address:
d.hausenloy@ucl.ac.uk
Prof Sean M Davidson, BSc (Hons), PhD (Professorial Research Fellow)
Professor Davidson is a Research Group leader at the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute. The overarching aim of Professor Davidson’s research is to identify novel methods to protect the heart from injury sustained during a myocardial infarction, or heart attack. He supervises several postdoctoral researchers and PhD students who are studying cardioprotective pathways (the “reperfusion injury salvage kinase” or RISK pathway) and cell death pathways (mitochondrially mediated necrosis, necroptosis, pyroptosis). A key interest is on the role of nanoparticles called exosomes, and how they can be used to protect the heart via these pathways. The research is laboratory-based but with a clear aim to translating through to clinical application and ultimately, patient benefit.
Professor Davidson received the accolade “Highly Cited Researcher™” from Clarivate in 2022, which recognizes the world’s most influential researchers.
He is a committee member of the International Society of Heart Research (ISHR, European Section) and past Chair of the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Cell Biology of the Heart. He serves on the editorial board of the journals Cardiovascular Research, Basic Research in Cardiology, and Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy.
Email address:
s.davidson@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Robert Bell, PhD, FRCP (Associate Professor)
Dr Robert Bell is an associate Professor at the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute and an Honorary Cardiology Consultant at University College London Hospitals, including the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Cytoprotection and ischaemia/ reperfusion injury are Dr Bell’s key research interests. His current projects are centred on the identification of novel cellular protection pathways and their clinical translation, as well as determining the impact of hyperglycaemia upon myocardial infarction and the cardioprotective properties of sodium/glucose linked transporter (SGLT) inhibitors. From this work, he has developed a clinical interest in the translation of these protective strategies in both the heart and brain. Additionally, Dr Bell has a research interest in red-cell cardiology, including Thalassemia, in which he works closely with Dr Malcolm Walker.
Dr Bell serves as Chairman of the Barts Heart Centre Peer Review and BioResearch boards and is an active member of the European Society of Cardiology Stroke Working Group, British Cardiology Society, British Society for Cardiovascular Research and International Society for Heart Research – on which he is the Current Academic Clinician Committee Member.
Email address:
rob.bell@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Maryna Basalay, PhD (Research Associate)
The centre of Dr Basalay’s research is the mechanism of ischaemia/reperfusion injury of the heart and brain from the perspective of cardioprotection and neuroprotection in the setting of acute heart attack and brain (stroke). She was part of the team to first demonstrate the crucial role of parasympathetic innervation and glucagon-like peptide 1 in the mechanisms of remote ischaemic conditioning of the heart. More recently, she and colleagues showed that glucagon-like peptide 1 also dilates cerebral arterioles and mediates remote (pre)conditioning neuroprotection against ischaemic stroke.
Dr Basalay and her research group at the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute are closely collaborating in their research work with the University of Lyon (France) and the department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology of UCL.
Email address:
m.basalay@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Pelin Golforoush, PhD (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow)
Dr Golforoush’s research expertise is focused on the area of myocardial infarction. Initially investigating protein-protein interactions of associated myocardial infarction pathways, she advanced her research by developing novel compounds to reduce myocardial infarction damage. She has more recently focused on applying this knowledge to focus on cardioprotection for anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity during her time at Imperial College London. At The Hatter Cardiovascular Institute she is now using her expertise to target injury induced in atherosclerotic models.
Dr Golforoush has been awarded a place in the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) Young Fellows Programme, the Society’s flagship educational and networking platform. In addition, Dr Golforoush has been selected as a nucleus member of the British Atherosclerosis Society (BAS) Young Scientist Community (YSC), a group of cardiovascular research scientists in their early careers who are actively engaged in the BAS.
Email address:
p.golforoush@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Siavash Beikoghli Kalkhoran, PhD (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow)
Dr Kalkhoran’s main research focuses on the role of mitochondrial function and dynamics in the setting of my myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury (IRI). In this respect, his research aims are to develop therapeutics that can preserve mitochondrial networks following IRI. His current projects aim to investigate the underlying mechanisms behind cardiorenal syndrome whereby chronic kidney diseases aggravate myocardial infarction.
Email address:
siavash.kalkhoran.12@ucl.ac.uk
Dr David He, MD (Research Fellow and Lab Manager)
Dr He is an experienced research fellow with expertise in both in vivo and in vitro animal model design and implementation, specific to investigating the protection mechanisms of ischemia-reperfusion injury. Dr He has been investigating a variety of interventions to protect the heart from ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice and rat models since he joined the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute in 2011.
Email address:
z.he@ucl.ac.uk