Conference Programme 2022

Dr Jaimini CEGLA

Consultant in chemical pathology and metabolic medicine

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

London

Dr Jai Cegla has a specialist interest in lipidology and cardiovascular risk and splits her time between clinical, laboratory and academic research roles. In her clinical role she looks after the Hammersmith Hospital Lipid Service, a one-stop centre for the genetic diagnosis and management of lipid disorders.

Her current research focuses on cardiovascular risk including clinical trials of novel therapeutic agents.

Dr Cegla is a member of the Medical, Scientific and Research Committee of HEART UK, the cholesterol charity. She also contributes to the NHS England Clinical Advisory Group for Lipids.

Prof Hector CHINOY

PhD FRCP

Professor of Rheumatology and Neuromuscular Disease / Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist

The University of Manchester / Salford Royal Hospital

Centre for Musculoskeletal Research

Manchester, UK

Hector Chinoy is a Professor of Rheumatology and Neuromuscular Disease at The University of Manchester, UK, where he leads an active programme of translational research within the Manchester Myositis Research Group. At Salford Royal NHS Hospital Foundation Trust, he is an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist and leads the Rheumatology Neuromuscular service. He has recently led on the British Society for Rheumatology myositis guidelines and is Chief Investigator of a study investigating JAK inhibition in patients with inflammatory myopathy.

Hector is also co-chair of UKMYONET, a national consortium that fosters collaborative research in inflammatory myopathy, and chair of the international MYONET registry, a consortium that collects standardised clinical data in over 30 countries. He is one of the International Myositis Assessment & Clinical Studies Group coordinators.

Dr Pete GREEN

MBBS MSc 

GP                                                         

HighParks Medical Practice, Cliffe Woods, Kent

GP Governing Body Member | Kent & Medway CCG

Clinical Lead | CVD Prevent Audit 

Chair | HEART UK  

Professor Bruce GRIFFIN

Professor of Nutritional Metabolism, and Research Section Lead in Metabolic Medicine, Food & Macronutrients

Department of Nutritional Sciences

University of Surrey in Guildford

He is Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Nutrition, Council Member for Academia for the British Nutrition Society, and a Registered Nutritionist through affiliation with the Association for Nutrition. After a BSc in Medical Laboratory Science (Portsmouth, 1984), he undertook a PhD (Effects of exercise and diet on plasma lipoproteins, Aberdeen, 1988), followed by post-doctoral training in pathological biochemistry at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (1988-94). At the University of Surrey (1994-to date), he has researched and taught undergraduate and postgraduates in human nutrition & dietetics, food science, nutritional medicine, and clinical biochemistry. He has published extensively on the effects of dietary macronutrients and lifestyle factors on human health and cardiovascular diseases, with focus on the impact of blood lipids and lipoproteins.

Mrs Lisa GRITZMACHER

BSc.RGN (Hons). PGCert Practical genetics for healthcare professionals and counselling (Masters level).

Clinical Nurse Specialist Familial Hypercholesterolaemia

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Department of Biochemistry, Bristol, UK

Lisa graduated in nursing in 1988, in Bristol. Lisa worked in tertiary level coronary care and cardiothoracic units for over 20 years, both in the UK and abroad (USA).

In 2014, she undertook the role of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) Clinical Nurse Specialist to set up a regional cascade screening service across Bristol and Bath, comprising five CCG’s. Lisa works with a variety of organisations locally and nationally in order to deliver this regional integrated service towards the goal of achieving a nationwide linked up cascade screening service for people with FH and their relatives. In 2016-2017, Lisa sat on the NICE committee for the updated guideline for FH (CG71) and learnt a great deal about the bigger picture and decisions involved in delivering healthcare and policy. Lisa was honoured to receive two awards in 2018, recognising my achievements, which were the BHF Leadership and Engagement Award and the HEART UK Rianna Wingett Award.

Dr Paul HAMILTON

Clinical Lecturer

Queen’s University Belfast

Paul Hamilton is also an Honorary Consultant Chemical Pathologist at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. He has an interest in cardiovascular and fracture risk, as well as medical education. Paul works in a busy general lipid clinic and also runs a separate clinic for patients with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia. His MD thesis was in the field of refining cardiovascular risk and he has published several articles in this area.

Prof Elizabeth HUGHES MBE

Consultant in Chemical Pathology

Sandwell General Hospital

Sandwell, UK

 Professor Elizabeth Hughes MBE is Deputy Medical Director of Health Education England with specific responsibility for Undergraduate Medical Education. She was previously the Director and Dean of Education and Quality for Health Education England for London and South East.

Alongside this she has other national roles for HEE including overseeing education in Pharmacy, Diagnostics and Healthcare Science together with a focus on international medical education.

Professor Elizabeth Hughes is also a Consultant in Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine at Sandwell General Hospital, West Bromwich and Honorary Professor at both the University of Birmingham and University of Aston and visiting Professor at Worcester University. Elizabeth is a national expert in the treatment of inherited lipid disorders and is one of the Founder members of the national charity HEARTUK with which she has worked extensively with multi professional healthcare professionals and patients.

Dr Sara JENKS

MRCP FRCPath

Consultant Chemical Pathologist 

Department of Clinical Biochemistry

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Sara Jenks qualified from Warwick Medical School in 2007. After completing foundation training in the West Midlands she moved to Edinburgh, Scotland where she went on to complete her core medical training and specialty training in chemical pathology and metabolic medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.   

Her clinical interests include lipidology and inherited metabolic disease.  She works at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh lipid service which provides the full range of investigation and treatment for patients with lipid disorders.  

Dr Jenks chairs multiple committees at local and national level including the Lothian Primary care laboratory interface group and the Scottish Clinical Biochemistry network innovation group. She is also a member of the Scottish Lipid Forum. 

Dr Rani KHATIB 

FRPharmS 

Consultant Pharmacist in Cardiology & Cardiovascular Research│Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 

Associate Professor │University of Leeds 

National Clinical Champion for PCSK9i & Lipid Management│NHS England  

Heart Failure Quality Standards Committee member│NICE

Science Committee Member│European Soceity of Cardiology, ACNAP 

Co-Chair of Cardiovascular Group│UK Clinical Pharmacy Association  

Dr Alice P MCCLOSLEY

PhD, MPharm, PGDip, MRPharmS

L/SL Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics

Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool

Dr Alice McCloskey is a registered pharmacist working primarily in academia who keeps in touch with practice through regular locum days in community and hospital pharmacy. Frequent patient contact ensures that Dr McCloskey’s research is both informed by and contributes to better patient care. A Queen’s University Belfast MPharm and PhD graduate, Dr McCloskey completed an industry linked post-doctoral fellowship between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin and nebulizer company aerogen, Galway. She has worked as a full-time academic since 2018. Dr McCloskey’s research areas span the breadth of pharmacy science to clinical practice, with specific interests being peptides, paediatrics and pills.

At this year’s HEART UK conference she will share recent work with Newcastle and Liverpool Children’s hospitals around pill swallowing that is as applicable for adult cardiology patients as they are for children.

Dr Ian MCDOWELL

MD FRCP FRCPath

Senior Lecturer and Consultant

Cardiff University

Department of Medical Biochemistry, University Hospital of Wales

Cardiff, Wales, UK

Dr McDowell is Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Medical Biochemistry and Metabolic Medicine in Cardiff and is originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Dr McDowell has been consultant in the Cardiff Lipid clinic since 1992.  Ian has seen great advances in the diagnosis and treatment of lipid disorders during the last 30 years, particularly for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia . 

Dr McDowell looks forward to facilitating the session on “Devolution Differences”

Dr Devaki NAIR

Consultant Chemical Pathologist  and Clinical Lead for Clinical biochemistry Royal Free hospital and North Middlesex University Hospital

Clinical Lead for Lipids and CVD Prevention

Director SAS Centre for Cardiovascular Biomarkers, Training Programme Director for Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine; Speciality Lead for Biochemistry HSL

Dr Peter PENSON

MPharm, PhD

Reader in Cardiovascular Pharmacology, and Leader of the Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics Research Group

Liverpool John Moores University

Liverpool, UK

Dr Peter Penson is a Reader in Cardiovascular Pharmacology at Liverpool John Moores University, UK and Leader of the Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics Research Group. He is currently Interim Head of Subject (Pharmacological Sciences) within the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences and Editor in Chief of Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology.

A pharmacist by background, Peter is particularly interested in the role of lipoproteins in cardiovascular disease, and he collaborates widely on research projects as a member of the International Lipid Expert Panel

Prof Frederick J RAAL

MBBCh, FRCP, FCP(SA), Cert Endo, MMED, PhD

Head, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism
Director, Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Professor Raal is currently Professor and Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, as well as Director of the Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

He has authored or co-authored over 300 original articles and book chapters and has reviewed for several international journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Circulation, and Atherosclerosis.  He is on the Editorial Board of Atherosclerosis and is a Board member of the International Atherosclerosis Society.

Professor Raal is particularly interested in lipids and lipid disorders and has been integrally involved in the management of familial dyslipidaemia, particularly heterozygous and homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). His Unit has one of the largest cohorts, if not the largest cohort, of homozygous FH patients in the world and has contributed and continues to contribute to the management of these patients. The major focus of his research remains the clinical, biochemical, genetic and therapeutic management of this condition and he continues to conduct studies with novel therapies such as PCSK9-inhibitors and ANGPTL3-inhibitors in this patient group.

Dr Jonathan C. L. RODRIGUES

BSc(Hons), MBChB(Hons), MRCP, FRCR, FSCMR, PhD
Consultant Cardiothoracic Radiologist & Honorary Senior Lecturer
Department of Radiology, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust & Department of Health, University of Bath
Bath, UK

Jonathan Rodrigues is a Consultant Cardiothoracic and General Radiologist in Bath. During his training he took time out to complete a PhD in cardiovascular imaging at The University of Bristol and Bristol Heart Institute, funded by the RCR Kodak research scholarship. He completed a post CCT fellowship in thoracic imaging in Toronto General Hospital before returning to the UK where he has been a Consultant for 4 years. He is co-chief investigator of the NIHR research for patient benefit study ‘Super rehab: can we achieve coronary artery disease regression?’. He is NIHR West of England imaging champion and a member of the NIHR imaging workforce subcommittee and a co-opted member of the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging/Cardiovascular CT (BSCI/BSCCT) executive committee.

Dr Kate SHIPMAN

Consultant Chemical Pathologist

St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester

Dr Yee-Ping TEOH

Consultant in Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine

Clinical Lead for Services in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Pathology Department,

Wrexham Maelor Hospital,

Wrexham, UK

Yee-Ping is originally from Malaysia and did her undergraduate medical training in Melbourne, Australia before continuing her postgraduate training in UK since 1997.

She was accepted to the West of Scotland Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine Specialist Registrar training in Glasgow from 2002-2008 where her interest in dyslipidaemia treatment started.

Yee-Ping was appointed into her current post as Consultant Chemical Pathologist in Wrexham since 2008. As there were no Lipid clinics in North Wales at that time, she started the first Lipid clinic in Nov 2008 and there is now a lipid clinic in each of the 3 hospitals in BCUHB. Together with her Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) nurse specialist Rob Gingell and two other consultant colleagues, they have been running the All Wales Familial Hypercholesterolaemia screening programme since 2010 and have a large database of FH patients under their care. They run a mixture of face-to-face clinics and also virtual clinics to help both primary and secondary care consultants managed difficult to treat dyslipidaemic patients in the region.

Yee-Ping is also passionate about clinical research and have been involved with some of the current Phase III cardiovascular outcome trials for lipid lowering agents.

Prof Sotirios (Sam) TSIMIKAS

MD, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI

Medicine and Director of Vascular Medicine

University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, USA

Dr. Tsimikas is Professor of Medicine and the Director of Vascular Medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. His education and training included obtaining his MD degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Internal Medicine training at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and separate fellowships in Cardiovascular Medicine, Atherosclerosis and Molecular Medicine and Interventional Cardiology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD( Medical Center. Dr. Tsimikas is the Founding Director of the Vascular Medicine Program withing the Cardiovascular Medicine Division, which encompasses treating patients in the continuum of high-risk primary prevention to endovascular intervention. In 2014, he established the world’s first dedicated “Lp(a) Clinic”. Dr. Tsimikas’ research interests are translational in scope and focus on two major areas: 1-“biotheranostics”- biomarkers, molecular imaging and therapeutics targeted to oxidation-specific epitopes, and 2- Lp(a) pathophysiology and therapeutics. He has published in all of the major medical journals, including NEJM, Lancet, Nature, Cell and has over 280 original manuscripts, review articles and book chapters. He currently has a dual appointment at University of California San Diego Medical School and as Senior Vice President of Global Cardiovascular Development at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Carlsbad, CA. He is co-inventor of 13 issued patents, and co-founder of Oxitope, Inc, Kleanthi Diagnostics and Covicept Inc.