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The BHF Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) at the University of Oxford has been awarded £6m by the British Heart Foundation to continue its world leading research into cardiovascular disease. Prof Hugh Watkins is Director of the Centre, which involves 48 research groups, whose research spans diverse areas and covers the translational research spectrum, from basic to clinical research.

An image of the Oxford Heart Centre taken by the bus stop on the south-western slope on the John Radcliffe Hospital site. The mosaic of colourful glass panes below the windows contrast sharply against the the skyline and the main hospital building.


Credit: Joshua Chai Photography

From the RDM Image Competition 2015.
Oxford Heart Centre

The funding will be spent over a 5 year period, from 2014 – 2019 and builds on a previous investment in the Centre of £8.4m by the BHF. The goal of the CRE is to emerge as one of the leading cardiovascular centres worldwide. It will forge new programmes in population genetics & genomic epidemiology, medicinal chemistry and target discovery, regenerative medicine and stem cell biology, and informatics. CRE funding will be used primarily to support talented individuals, with a focus on recruiting researchers into the field and on career development. Pump priming and infrastructure awards will foster multi-disciplinary research and support the most novel and exciting ideas arising from across the spectrum of population, clinical and basic science.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the BHF said: “Oxford is a melting pot of innovative research. Funding the £6 million Centre of Research Excellence here will ensure the University is a world leader in heart research. With the best and brightest minds on the job, we’ll be even closer to a world where people don’t die prematurely from heart disease.”

The University of Oxford is one of 6 Centres of Research Excellence to receive funding from the BHF.