BHF Centre of Research Excellence events in 2026
2026 BHF CRE Annual Symposium
The Imperial BHF Centre of Research Excellence held its Annual Symposium on 1st July 2026. The programme featured exciting research talks and updates on Centre activities. We were honoured to host Professor Stefanie Dimmeler for the 2026 Feldberg Prize Lecture on vascular ageing. We also heard about three new BHF Doctoral Training Programmes co-led by Imperial researchers. Dr Alicia D’Souza presented the donor human hearts programme as a research platform, while Professor Lan Zhao and Dr Stephanie Hopley (Apollo Therapeutics) discussed the pathway for developing a pulmonary‑hypertension therapy from discovery to clinical trials. Professor Dorian Haskard gave an overview of the Science in Medicine School Teams Prize for UK Sixth Form students, launched in 2021 and co-funded by the Centre. Representatives from the BHF Research leadership and communications teams joined us on the day.
Our early career researchers (ECRs) delivered excellent talks across basic and translational cardiovascular research supported by the Centre. Congratulations to the winners of the ECR Best Talk and Best Poster awards:
The Best ECR Oral Presentation
1st place – Mrs. Sacha Moore
2 runners-up – Dr. Adam Hartley and Dr. Mohsen Mazidi
The Best Poster
1st place – Dr. Momina Yazdani
3 runners-up – Dr. Adela Constantinescu-Bercu, Dr. Sejal Singal, and Dr. Kaloyan Takov
On 2nd and 3rd July, the Centre’s ECR Committee ran its first Summer School, featuring ECR-tailored career development sessions and technical workshops.
BHF Centre of Research Excellence Seminar Series
- Tuesday 3rd February 2026 – Title: Discovery, Design, and Repair: Building Cardiovascular Therapeutics, by Professor Mark Mercola, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, and Dr Pilar Ruiz-Lozano, Founder and CSO of Regencor
- Thursday 12th February 2026 – Title: Triggers of myocardial infarction and vulnerable plaques and how to treat them, by Professor David Erlinge, Head of the Department of Cardiology Lund University
- Monday 8th June 2026 – Title: Sex differences in cardiovascular diseases, by Professor Hester den Ruijter, Utrecht University
Past symposia, seminars and meetings
Joint BHF CRE Annual Symposium 2025
The BHF Centres of Research Excellence at Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, and the University of Cambridge jointly co-organised Annual Symposium on 24 June 2025. The programme featured excellent talks from speakers across all three research centres and offered a unique opportunity for collaborative talks and networking.
Many Early Career Researchers submitted posters for the Poster Session. Congratulations to the winners of Best Poster Award:
First Prize – Dr. Sam Barnett
Second Prize – Dr. Charis Pericleous
Third Prize – Dr. Sean Zheng
BHF Centre of Research Excellence Seminar Series
- Monday 14 April 2025 - Title: From Cardiac Regeneration to Cancer Therapy, by Dr Serena Zacchigna, Department of Cardiovascular Biology, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Padriciano, Trieste, Italy
- Tuesday 4th February 2025 - Title: Phospholamban R14Δ/+ cardiomyopathy: a showcase for personalized treatment in heart failure, by Dr Niels Grote Beverborg, Department of Cardiologie, University Medical Centre Groningen
- Monday 20th January 2025 - Title: Cellular mechanisms contributing to contractile dysfunction and remodelling in human heart failure, by Dr Kenneth Campbell, University of Kentucky
Dr Arun Sau - In conversation with Dr Kathryn McGurk
Dr Kathryn McGurk, a BHF CRE Immediate Fellow interviewed Dr Arun Sau, a Clinical Research Fellow & Cardiology Registrar who has recently won several young investigator awards across different cardiovascular conferences.
Dr McGurk organised this call with Dr Sau to get tips for abstract/presentation/how to answer questions at award interviews. This presentation has been formalised into a recorded interview so that others too can benefit from this. To see the presentation, please visit -https://youtu.be/bDpjLl0JF_Q
BHF Centre of Research Excellence Annual Symposium 2024
Joint Symposium - Imperial BHF Centre for Research Excellence and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) - Thursday 11th July – 9:00-17:00, Stadium Room, Scale Space, 58 Wood Lane, London W12 7R
BHF Centre of Research Excellence Annual Symposium 2023
Joint Symposium Imperial BHF CRE and Dementia Research Institute (DRI)
The heart brain axis: zooming in on vascular dementia - Friday 5th May 2023, White City Campus, 12th Floor Uren Building. Please download a Programme of the day.
BHF CoRE Postdoctoral Seminar: Biobanks for Cardiovascular Research – watch here
Date: Wednesday, 2 November 2022, 15:00 - 16:00 (GMT)
Venue: Hammersmith Campus, ICTEM Building, Seminar Room 4 and online
Prof. David Hunter, Chief Science Advisor at Our Future Health, and Prof. Paul Elliott, member of the International Scientific Advisory Board at Biobank UK, gave a detailed overview of two of the main UK biobanks available to researchers, covering what data is collected, current research utilising the biobank, and future plans.
BHF CoRE Postdoctoral Seminar: The Ins and Outs of Cardiac MRI – watch here.
Date: Wednesday, 27 April 2022, 15:00 - 16:00 (GMT)
Venue: South Kensington Campus, ACEX 207 and online
Dr Antonio de Marvao, clinical lecturer in Cardiology at Imperial College London, kicked off the BHF CoRE Seminar series with a tutorial on cardiac MRI, including the basics of cardiac anatomy, the fundametals and physics behind cardiac MRI, ongoing MRI based research within Imperial, and potential future paths forward in combining AI methods and MRI.
Personalised Medicine: Reflecting Diversity
Date: Monday 22 November 2021, 18:30 – 21:00 (GMT)
Venue: Great Hall, Sherfield Building (West), South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London SW7 2AZ
Imperial College London and the BHF Alumni & Networks Team cordially invite you to an evening of presentations and discussion!
There will be three deep dive presentations into contemporary personalised medicine. The presentations will be followed by Q & A and a drinks reception in the Queen’s Tower Rooms.
This is an hybrid event and all registrants will receive a link to access the YouTube event livestream. There will be some opportunity to join in person.
For more details and to book your ticket please click here
BHF Centre of Excellence Annual Symposium
The BHF Imperial Centre for Research Excellence will host its Annual Symposium on Monday 25th October 2021 - 13:30 - 17:30. It will be a virtual event on Microsoft Teams.
There will be a wide range of talks from themes in the Centre and it will be an opportunity to bring all those interested in cardiovascular health together and to highlight BHF-funded research to those that fund us.
Our Guest presentation ‘Our Future Health’ will be made by Dr Fiona Reddington, Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships, of Our Future Health.
To register for this event please click here
For a full programme please click BHF CRE Annual Symposium 25 October 2021
British Cardiovascular Society - BCS Annual Conference 2021
Monday 7th to Thursday 10th June 2021 - The Virtual Annual Conference ran across four days.
General enquiries
BHF Centre of Research Excellence
ICTEM Building
Hammersmith Campus
Du Cane Road
London W12 0NN
BHF Centre Manager
Dr Magdalena Zak
m.zak1@imperial.ac.uk
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