Cardiovascular Catalyst Awards

In 2021 the BHF held a call for applications to fund research into the use of advanced analytics to improve cardiovascular care delivery and outcomes in the NHS

This call aimed to fund research proposals that sought to improve the delivery of care and/or outcomes of patients with heart and circulatory disease through development and application of advanced analytics approaches, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, within the NHS. No part of the system providing care for people with cardiovascular diseases was unaffected by the Covid-19 pandemic - from lifesaving prevention, detection, treatment, and recovery, to crucial research that could unlock future breakthroughs and cures. This has led to a huge backlog of cardiovascular care and potential worsening of cardiovascular survival rates. 

Despite these challenges, remarkable innovations were made by NHS frontline staff and others. Innovation was seen through establishment of virtual clinics, prioritisation of patients and multidisciplinary consultations. These and many more activities could benefit from the application of advanced analytics. It has never been more important to support innovation that can help improve outcomes for cardiovascular disease.

Proposed projects utilised routinely collected NHS data including, but not limited to, clinical data and healthcare records. Process data relating to healthcare delivery including scheduling and resource allocation also holds the potential to improve patient experience and outcomes. Proposals that had the potential to either deliver care more effectively or to improve outcomes or both were eligible for consideration.

Solutions were required to clearly demonstrate likely patient, public and/or system (NHS) benefit and have the potential to be generalisable and scalable. It was anticipated that successful proof of concept supported by these awards will catalyse progress towards implementation via larger funding packages.

Applicants were expected to outline how patients and the public will be involved in shaping the research and in decisions on how the data will be used.

Proposals for research projects lasting up to two years and costing up to £200,000 were invited

Who could apply?

• We anticipated that the applicants for these awards will come from the NHS or NHS-related structures such as Academic Health Science Centres or Networks, working in partnership with others, including the University sector.

Successful awards

A specially convened expert Panel, including public and patient representatives, sat in March 2022 and the following awards were recommended for funding:

CC/22/250026 Professor Christopher Gale – University of Leeds (£199,453)

The BHF Bristol Myers Squibb Cardiovascular Catalyst Award: Future Innovations in Novel Detection of Atrial Fibrillation (FIND-AF): A proof-of-concept clinical implementation study of an artificial intelligence algorithm to increase detection rates of atrial fibrillation in the general population

CC/22/250021 Dr Stephen White – Manchester Metropolitan University (£126,014)

The BHF Doug Gurr Cardiovascular Catalyst Award: Using big data to identify novel interrelationships that predict incidence of, and recovery from acute coronary syndromes

CC/22/250024 Dr Tom Johnson – University of Bristol (£133,054)

Guiding antithrombotic therapies in patients with high bleeding risk

CC/22/250022 Professor Ajay Shah – King's College London (£146,934)

The BHF Adrian Beecroft Cardiovascular Catalyst Award: Natural Language Processing based Artificial Intelligence Methods to Detect Heart Failure with preserved Ejection Fraction