After being awarded a BSc honours degree by the University of Dundee (1995), I completed a PhD focussed on dietary lipoproteins and atherosclerosis at The Royal Veterinary College, University of London (1998). I then worked as a PDRA in the Cardiovascular Division at King’s College London until 2005, when I took up an academic position within the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen's University Belfast, where I am currently a full Professor leading an established research programme and also Faculty Dean. Notable achievements include receipt of the International Society for Heart Research Young Investigator Award (2003) and a prestigious Medical Research Council UK New Investigator Research Grant (2007), and election to the committee of the British Society for Cardiovascular Research (2008) on which I served as Honorary Secretary (2014-20). I am currently Associate Editor of Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy (2020- ), serve on the Medical Research Council Populations and Systems Medicine Board (2023- ), and recently completed a term as Vice-Chair of the British Heart Foundation Projects Grants Committee (2017-21). I have published 83 peer-reviewed papers in the cardiovascular field in high impact journals such as Circulation, Circulation Research, Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, with >5,700 citations and an H-index of 35 (Scopus) and have been awarded >£7M in competitive research funding.

My research programme is mainly focussed on investigating mechanisms underlying cardiovascular remodelling and dysfunction, with a particular interest in the role of oxidative stress, novel peptide hormones, endothelial progenitor cells, and the influence of diabetes. My group employs a wide range of laboratory techniques, from in vivo physiology to molecular biology and tissue culture, to investigate mechanisms underlying the adaptive but ultimately detrimental changes that occur in various cardiovascular disease states and how these may be modulated for potential therapeutic benefit.

Current undergraduate and postgraduate teaching contribution:

BSc Biomedical Sciences
BMS3013 - Sports and Exercise Physiology
BMS3112 - Research Project

MSc Experimental Medicine
SCM8180 - Advanced Research Skills in Experimental Medicine
SCM8146 and SCM8147 - Research Project