Heart Hero Awards
Our annual awards celebrate fundraisers, young advocates, lifesavers, healthcare professionals and supporters who go the extra mile for BHF.
Between August and September 2024, we invited you to discover these 3 pioneering projects and vote for the one that inspired you most.
Each project aims to tackle some of the biggest challenges into heart and circulatory diseases.
With over 9,500 votes received, we’re pleased to announce our winner and finalists for 2024. You can also see the incredible research project that won in 2023.
Heart Hero Award 2024
Professor Adam Greenstein and Dr Harry Pritchard - University of Manchester
Professor Adam Greenstein and his team at University of Manchester have uncovered a potential route to developing the first ever drug treatments for vascular dementia.
The study, led by Dr Harry Pritchard, has revealed how high blood pressure can disrupt messaging within artery cells in the brain. This causes them to remain permanently constricted, reducing blood flow over time, leading to vascular dementia.
Heart Hero Award 2024 finalists
Professor Charalambos Antoniades - University of Oxford
Professor Charalambos Antoniades and his team at University of Oxford have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can predict people’s risk of having a heart attack up to 10 years before it happens.
The first real-world trial of the tool in the NHS showed it to improve treatment for nearly half of those examined, indicating it could save thousands of lives.
Dr George Joy - University College London
Dr George Joy and his team at University College London have shown that new heart MRI scans and using a high-tech ECG vest could help doctors to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) before conventional tests can spot the symptoms.
This method could mean that people showing early symptoms of HCM could receive earlier and more effective treatment.
BHF Research Story of the Year 2023 winner
Professor Massimo Caputo - University of Bristol
Professor Caputo and his team at University of Bristol have developed a new revolutionary type of ‘heart plaster’ that could improve the way surgeons treat children living with congenital heart disease.
The plaster is designed to adapt to a child’s heart as it grows, removing the need for repeated open-heart surgeries.
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