Dr Ali Khavandi, Consultant Cardiologist, and Dr Jonathan Rodrigues, Consultant Radiologist, are leading an RUH Cardiovascular research team in collaboration with researchers at the University of Bath, whose aim is to save lives by transforming treatment options.

Dr Khavandi specialises in cardiac prevention, coronary intervention [stenting] and device implantation [pacemakers]. He is recognised nationally for his novel approach to patient diet education and this has resulted in appearances on BBC Horizon programme, writing for the Observer and being awarded a national innovation award through the Health Foundation for creating the "Cardiologist's Kitchen".

Dr Ali Khavandi joined the RUH in 2013, after being born and bred in Bath and a pupil at King Edwards School. Inspired by work experience at both the RUH and the Royal Mineral Water Hospital, Ali was drawn to following in the footsteps of doctors making a difference to other peoples' lives, leading to his career in Cardiology.

Reflecting on the patients he cares for routinely Dr Khavandi is keen to research new ways of tackling an increasingly common problem – with the aim of shifting focus in our care to prevention and even reversing heart disease. The research Dr Khavandi is leading is a potential game-changer for the NHS, and it is extremely exciting for the team in Bath to be at be pioneering this new wave of research.

Dr Jonathan Rodrigues, Consultant Radiologist, and Dr Ali Khavandi, Consultant Cardiologist, are leading an RUH Cardiovascular research team in collaboration with researchers at the University of Bath, whose aim is to save lives by transforming treatment options.

Dr Rodrigues has had an interest in cardiovascular disease since his time at Edinburgh Medical School, learning how cardiothoracic imaging can help to guide patient pathways. He completed his Fellowship in Toronto and joined the RUH Radiology Department as Consultant Radiologist in 2018.

Caring for patients with complex conditions increasingly relies on making best use of advanced imaging technology, which is developing all the time. The RUH now has cutting edge cardiac imaging technology to support both the care of our patients now and research into improving the care we deliver in the future. Dr Rodrigues is already leading the team to support research at a national level, working on projects with the University of Oxford and its Translational Cardiovascular Research Group, as well as UK and international imaging companies with evolving artificial intelligence technologies.

Through non-invasive cardiac imaging and with the growing expertise of the team, patients with complex heart conditions can receive further enhanced and more bespoke care. By carrying out unique imaging on these patients, we want to test new interventions we can offer our patients to improve outcomes for patients and their families. Along with the rest of the research team, Dr Rodrigues is looking forward to the development of cardiovascular research at the RUH and witnessing the positive influence this life-changing research will have on patients at the RUH.

Dr John Graby is joining the expert Bath Cardiovascular Research Group to help develop our exciting lifestyle research for cardiovascular diseases and will be undertaking a research degree alongside this via the University of Bath.

Dr Graby is Cardiology Registrar training in the South West who has taken time out of this to enable him to help drive forward this innovative research area, having taken up the Trust's first Cardiology Clinical Research Fellow position. In his short time with the team Dr Graby has helped forge relationships with academic colleagues at the Universities of Bath, Oxford and Bristol, as well as industry partners in the UK and US, and worked very successfully with the RUH official charity RUHX to drive local support and funding for the proposed studies and recently helped the team win national support with an 'NIHR Research for Patient Benefit' grant.

Recognising the need to find new ways to help our patients reduce the burden cardiovascular disease places on them, Dr Graby is excited to test the impact of introducing our novel lifestyle intervention earlier in the pathway of various forms of heart disease, using imaging markers to extrapolate to individualised prognostic risk. Alongside this Dr Graby has been working with his supervisory team on projects assessing the role non-invasive cardiac imaging, particularly CT, is increasingly having on a variety of high-risk and asymptomatic population groups.

Professor Fiona Gillison is a Chartered Psychologist and Head of Department for Health at the University of Bath. Her research interests centre on how we can support people to improve their health behaviours, particularly focusing on promoting physical activity and diet.

Based at the University of Bath since 2004, Professor Gillison has been dedicated to encouraging healthy lifestyles and prevention of disease for many years, following experience of working within the NHS to support stop smoking, and weight management clinics. Whilst cardiovascular diseases have been on the rise, it's not people who have changed to cause this, it's the environment. In modern life we have developed increasingly inactive lifestyles through the ways we work, travel and socialise, also changing what, when and how we eat.

Professor Gillison is enthusiastic about the opportunities this research creates to help people find ways of making healthy choices within the environment they live in, and to move from the early stages of making a change when each decision feels like a large effort, to a point when these healthy behaviours come a sustainable habit:

"The strength of sports, health and exercise science at the University of Bath, and the expertise within the research team make this project really exciting. A unique approach via Super Rehab which incorporates behavioural science at the heart of the project would mean directly supporting patients at a time when it will be most important to them. We hope the personalised pathways we work with patients to develop will help to instill new behaviours that fit well within their routines and that last. There's also huge potential to scale up the scope of the research."

Professor Dylan Thompson is a Professor in Human Physiology and Director of the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism in the Department for Health at the University of Bath. He is internationally recognised for his research in physical activity, exercise and nutrition.

Professor Thompson joined the University of Bath in 1999 when the Department for Health had only three members of academic staff, no researchers and no labs. He has been part of its growth ever since, with excellent facilities now housing their team of more than 60 academic staff, over 150 researchers and a suite of laboratories – all dedicated to the research of human health.

Professor Thompson has an interest in improving the metabolic health of patients, and his extensive previous research has included making a real difference to people living with Type 2 diabetes, through a study that began 10 years ago and uses wearable technology to help patients improve their health. This resulted in patients being able to self-manage their own health and Professor Thompson was especially delighted to hear frequent testimonials about how it has changed patient lives.

Professor Thompson recognises the clear need to improve outcomes for many people living with heart disease and is excited to work with the team here at the RUH to shift the focus more on to illness prevention and reversal:

"Projects like this have the potential to be transformative for our community and NHS resources too, saving government funding which is currently being spent on medicines for long-term management of conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Instead, the focus on providing lifestyle support to patients at risk of developing heart problems can improve the outcomes by investing in prevention rather than treatment. But it's more than just advice. Advice isn't enough. We need to work with individual patients to help them help themselves."