Rafail Kotronias

Rafail is a Clinical Research Fellow in Cardiology and a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, supported by the British Heart Foundation. Building on an NIHR integrated academic-clinical training pathway, his research brings together cutting-edge coronary imaging techniques; photon-counting CT (PCCT) and optical coherence tomography (OCT), to develop advanced tools for cardiovascular phenotyping. He combines deep learning with expert-annotated datasets to investigate key mechanisms such as plaque vulnerability, myocardial injury, and reperfusion-related damage.

Through international collaborations, Rafail has trained in nanoparticle-based molecular imaging techniques, which he now aims to integrate into his work to enable deeper mechanistic investigation of coronary artery disease and myocardial injury. His overarching ambition is to harness the full potential of multimodal imaging; spanning PCCT, OCT, and molecular techniques, to drive personalised approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes. By supporting early-phase testing of innovative therapeutics and devices, and evaluating how these technologies can be integrated into clinical care pathways, his goal is to help shape the future of precision cardiology.