Dragana Savic

I completed a combined two-year master’s in Biomedical Engineering (Medicine and Technology) at the Technical University of Denmark and Copenhagen University. My master’s thesis research was completed at Yale University, where I studied the effects of stiffening vessels on cardiac function. After finalising my master’s thesis, I was recruited the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where I led multicentre trials and worked on the first phase I clinical trial studying patients with liver metastasis using hyperpolarized MRI.

Following my position at UCSF, I moved to the University of Oxford to undertake my DPhil with Associate Professor Damian Tyler and Dr Lisa Heather investigating l-carnitine effects on cardiovascular diseases in type 1 diabetes using hyperpolarized MRI, biochemistry and Langendorff isolated heart perfusions.

In October 2018, I started my Novo Nordisk Fellowship with Dr Michael Pavlides, Professor Stefan Neubauer, and Professor Leanne Hodson. My project focuses on investigating different stages of NAFLD and what role L-carnitine has on fatty acids metabolism and insulin resistance in both healthy volunteers and patients. We are using advanced magnetic resonance spectroscopy before and after injection of L-carnitine as well as stable-isotope tracing to understand the metabolism of the liver and how it is affected in patients with NAFLD.