MRC PROGRAMME GRANT
(CARDIAC & VASCULAR DISEASE PREVENTION AFTER HYPERTENSIVE PREGNANCY: AI-DERIVED, MULTI-ORGAN, HYPERTENSIVE DISEASE PROGRESSION MODELS)

• A 5 year programme starting in 2022 to generate insights into how disease affects the heart, brain and vasculature, in women and children following a hypertensive pregnancy.
• The programme will collect complex imaging data based on magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiography in clinical studies based in Oxford, within the ALSPAC cohort in Bristol and new studies in South Africa.
• Existing datasets collected in unique pregnancy and childhood studies performed in Oxford over the last ten years will also be studied, alongside large scale imaging data from UK Biobank
• Novel AI analysis technologies will be developed and implemented to link together imaging biomarkers with lifestyle and medical history to learn the multi-dimensional pattern of changes to the organs that occur as someone progresses from ‘health’ to a ‘disease’ state.
• The programme will work towards development of new clinical tools to guide blood pressure management across the life course of an individual
• The programme brings together cardiologists, obstetricians, physiologists, biomedical engineers and computational scientists from research groups in Oxford, Cape Town South Africa, McGill University Canada, University of Bristol, St Georges Hospital London, Kings College London and London School of Health and Tropical Medicine.