Cardiovascular disease

Our cardiovascular research examines diverse aspects of the heart and vasculature to understand, prevent and treat cardiovascular anomalies and diseases.

Much of this research bridges biomedical engineering and clinical care. For example, our researchers use medical imagining data and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to determine how variations in cardiac or vascular structure affect risk of cardiovascular disease in patients.

Complementing these efforts are studies that seek to understand how high blood pressure ('hypertension'), the pulsatile nature of blood flow, and changes in arterial stiffness with disease and ageing all increase risk of cardiovascular ill-health. These physiological changes also have effects on 'end organs', especially the brain, and that is another area that we study.

Other areas of activity include assessment of new approaches to measurement of blood pressure, interventional cardiology in the clinic and development of evidence-based surgical approaches to improve patient experience and outcomes after heart surgery.

Research groups

• Blood pressure and vascular function (Prof Alberto Avolio, Dr Mark Butlin, Dr Isabella Tan)
• Cardiovascular research group (A/Prof Andy Yong, Dr Ashkan Javadzadegan)
• Vascular haemodynamics and medical devices (Prof Itsu Sen)