Dr Henry West

I focus on diseases that have a profound impact on our lives: ischaemic heart disease and stroke.  

Each year these conditions kill some 18 million people. Respectively, they have filled the first and second spots on the global causes of death rankings for over 15 years. By the time you have read and comprehended this single sentence, 4 people will have died from heart attack and/or stroke around the world.

At Oxford, our work to reduce the terrible burden inflicted by these conditions is through the development of superior risk assessment tools and imaging technology. My DPhil project is concerned with novel computed tomography (CT) interpretation techniques that aim to improve the detection and clinical management of both ischaemic heart disease and stroke.

Previously, my work was primarily concerned with novel ultrasound measures of carotid artery pathology and secondarily, on the epidemiology of early life smoking exposures.

I completed my medical science degree and subsequently medical training at the University of Tasmania, Australia, graduating as valedictorian. I received the Rhodes Scholarship (Tasmania & Balliol, 2018) to come to Oxford to read my DPhil within The Oxford Translational Cardiovascular Research group at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine. My supervisors are Professor Charalambos Antoniades and Professor Keith Channon.

I have a general interest in preventative healthcare and I have previously spent time in East Africa working on anti-malaria epidemiology projects in conjunction with local health organisations. I am a keen runner and while at Oxford I row and play squash for Balliol College.

I am the Assistant Praefectus at Balliol College for the 2019-2020 academic year.