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 NAFLD and what role oxidative stress and insulin resistance has on the progression of the disease.  We want to use stable-isotope tracing and advanced magnetic resonance technology, such as 31-phosphorus spectroscopy and hyperpolarized 13-carbon spectroscopy, to understand the metabolism of the liver and how it is affected by treatments.