DrPankajBhavsar

Summary

Dr Bhavsar has established himself as a fully independent researcher within the National Heart and Lung Institute and his  research focuses on the mechanisms underlying relative steroid insensitivity in severe asthma and Chornic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Dr Bhavsar has  gained an international reputation and visibility within the field of severe asthma. For example, he has recently been invited to visit the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, China to present an overview his research and discuss co-operation on mechanisms of severe asthma. Dr Bhavsar has also developed extremely good relationships with the pharmaceutical industry, notably GlaxoSmithKline and Merck Corporation who have provided funding for research and have extended invitations to present at relevant workshops and symposia and has been asked to contribute Medical Scientific Liaison literature explaining the mechanisms of action identified from his research on newly licensed drugs.  Dr Bhavsar is a regular chair and facilitator for symposia, poster discussion sessions and thematic poster sessions at the International Conferences of the American Thoracic Society and at the European Respiratory Society. 

Dr Bhavsar has demonstrated his research expertise through the publication of a number of significant research papers as lead author in top respiratory journals such as American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Thorax. He has also been successful in securing considerable research funding from the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the Research Councils and other charitable sources. He has recently been invited to become an Investigator at the MRC Asthma-UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

Dr Bhavsar has recently reported a new mechanism for corticosteroid insensitivity specific to the airway smooth muscle (ASM) of patients with severe asthma that involves impaired nuclear translocation of the glucocorticoid receptor. It is this observation which provides the basis of his ongoing basic research of corticosteroid insensitivity  in severe asthma.  His most  recent collaborative  research with Pharma  identified  molecular interaction between  LABA and LAMA, a study which is unique, world leading and complements clinical trial findings assessing new bronchodilatory  therapies for COPD and asthma.

Dr Bhavsar was awarded his PhD from the University of London (NHLI) in 1995, studying the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac-specific gene regulation, under the supervision of  Drs Paul Barton and Nigel Brand in the department of Cardiothoracic Surgery headed by Professor  Sir Magdi Yacoub FRS. Dr Bhavsar became  a  Principal Investigator 18 months into his post-doctoral career with the award of a project grant from The British Heart Foundation.  In 2001 Dr Bhavsar was promoted to Research Lecturer and worked on the ‘bridge to recovery’ programme, designed by Prof. Yacoub, seeking alternative surgical treatments for end-stage heart failure.  In recognition of his research, and other contributions to the College including undergraduate and post-graduate student supervision and teaching, Dr Bhavsar was been promoted to Senior Research Fellow in September 2015.

In addition to his academic work, Dr Bhavsar is also a reviewer for major funding bodies and international basic science and clinical journals.

 

Recent publications and media coverage

Stem cells could offer hope for patients with lung damage from COPD and asthma

Reversal of corticosteroid insensitivity by p38 MAPK inhibition in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from COPD

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