Huon Gray
Huon Gray qualified from St Thomas’ Hospital, London in 1977 and later did research there as a British Heart Foundation Junior Fellow. His cardiology training was undertaken at the Brompton and St George’s Hospitals, London before becoming a consultant cardiologist at the Wessex Cardiac Unit, Southampton in 1989. He has held a number of national positions (Hon. Sec, British Cardiovascular Intervention Society, Hon. Sec, and then President, British Cardiovascular Society), and has published on various aspects of general and interventional cardiology. He co-chairs the National Infarct Angioplasty Project, and in January 2007 was appointed Deputy National Director for Heart Disease & Stroke at the Dept of Health (England). He is also Clinical Adviser to the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) on acute coronary syndromes, Hon. Civilian Consultant Adviser (Cardiology) to the Army, and Chair of the International Committee of the American College of Cardiology.
One of the founding partners of Wessex Cardiology, he is married, has two adult sons and enjoys skiing and fine wine.
Iain Simpson
Iain A Simpson MD, FRCP (Glas), FRCP (Lond), FACC, FESC. Qualified in medicine from the University of Glasgow in 1980, Dr. Simpson has been a Consultant Cardiologist at the Wessex Regional Cardiac Centre, Southampton University Hospitals Trust since 1992. A specialist in interventional cardiology, valve disease and cardiac imaging, he is currently President Elect with the British Cardiovascular Society and was previously Divisional Clinical Director for Specialist Services at Southampton University Hospitals Trust as well as Commissioning Editor for the international cardiovascular journal, Heart.
One of the founding Partners of Wessex Cardiology, he has an expertise in all aspects of modern cardiology. A previous British-American Research Fellow with the British Heart Foundation and American Heart Association working in San Diego, California, USA, he has published or contributed to over 20 textbooks in Cardiology, and has almost 100 full publications in various areas of cardiovascular research. He is married, has two children and is a keen but infrequent golfer.
Alison Calver
Alison Calver completed her undergraduate medical training at Cambridge University and University College and The Middlesex Medical School, London. She was a Tripos Scholar of Cambridge University and gained Honours in her final Medical Examinations. She qualified in 1986 and undertook General Professional Training in London. She obtained MRCP in 1989 before deciding to specialise in Cardiology. She has a background in research and spent 2 years as a British Heart Foundation Fellow, completing her MD thesis on “The role of Nitric Oxide in the control of vascular endothelium” in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at St George’s Hospital London, under the supervision of Professors Joe Collier and Patrick Vallance. She was awarded her MD thesis in 1993. Her postgraduate training in Cardiology took place at St George’s Hospital London, The London Chest Hospital and Southampton University Hospital. She was appointed Consultant in Interventional Cardiology in 2000. Her clinical interests are in General Cardiology including pacing, Interventional Cardiology and transoesophageal echocardiography. Dr Calver has a significant commitment to Medical Education. She is the lead Consultant for Medical Education and the Programme Director for Cardiology training in Wessex, producing the cardiologists of the future. She was a member of the Council of the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (2004-2008) and a member of the Royal College of Physicians Standing Committee for New Consultants (2004-2008) and she is now a member of the Education Committee of the British Cardiovascular Society. She helped to write the submission to NICE that ensured that Drug Eluting Stents continue to be available to patients in the UK and was a member of the British Cardiac Society Working Party that reported on Women in Cardiology: recruitment and retention. She is one of a small number of female interventional cardiologists in the UK.
She met her husband in the bicycle queue at Cambridge University and they have 2 young children. She enjoys riding her bike with her family (although this resulted in a recent broken arm!), swimming and is a keen skier. With a 9 and 10 year old life is never dull! She lives near Winchester and the family grow their own vegetables, a bit like the Good Life although there are no plans for a goat!.
Nick Curzen
Nick Curzen is a Consultant Cardiologist with a special interest in coronary artery and aortic valve intervention at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Professor in Interventional Cardiology at the University of Southampton in June 2011.
He qualified from Southampton University School of Medicine with Honours in 1987 and obtained Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 1990. In 1996 he was awarded his PhD from Imperial College London for a basic science thesis involving vascular pharmacology and molecular biology. His clinical training was at Southampton University, Royal Bournemouth, Royal Brompton, London Chest and St Bartholomew’s Hospitals.
Nick was an elected member of the British Cardiovascular Interventional Society (BCIS) between 2000 and 2004 and was then Education Officer for BCIS between 2005 and 2007. He was elected Honorary Secretary to BCIS in January 2011. He has served as a co-opted member of the Specialist Advisory Committee at the Royal College of Physicians between 2005 and 2007 and has represented the UK on a pan European Training Committee at the EAPCI. Nick was an invited expert on heart attack at the Prime Minister’s Directive Unit in 2004 and has been an Expert Advisor on behalf of BCIS, British Cardiovascular Society and Royal College of Physicians to NICE appraisal of acute coronary syndromes, Prasugrel and Ticagrelor in the last two years. He has acted as clinical lead for the acute coronary syndromes and stable angina components for the Map of Medicine Project at the Royal College of Physicians 2009 to 2011. He is Cardiologist to the British Cardiac Patients Association.
Professor Curzen has published over 120 peer review papers in the medical literature, 17 book chapters and has edited three cardiology books, the latest of which was the Oxford Textbook of Interventional Cardiology which was published. Currently research projects include novel imaging methods for myocardial ischaemia and scar, platelet function testing in cardiac and stroke medicine, statins and endothelial dysfunction and subclinical cardiovascular risk in chronic inflammatory diseases. He has been an invited member of faculty for a wide range of national and international scientific meetings. In November 2010 he came top of a national poll of interventional cardiologists published in the Daily Mail.
Professor Curzen has two children. He still plays five-a-side football regularly and is a keen cyclist.
Peter Cowburn
Peter Cowburn is a Consultant Cardiologist with a specialist interest in heart failure at Southampton General Hospital. He also works as the visiting Cardiologist at Lymington New Forest Hospital. He trained at Newcastle University and graduated in 1990. He worked as a junior doctor in the North East before commencing specialist cardiological training at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow in 1994. There he completed a two and a half year period of heart failure related research, publishing and presenting widely, before achieving an MD with Commendation. In 1998 he moved south to work as a Specialist Registrar in Cardiology in the Wessex Region. Following completion of his UK training, he spent 20 months working as a Clinical Fellow in Toronto, training in advanced heart failure management and cardiac resynchronisation therapy. He was appointed to his Consultant post in 2004.
Peter Cowburn’s interests include general cardiology, echocardiography, cardiac catheterisation and permanent pacemaker implantation. His special interest is in heart failure management and cardiac resynchronisation therapy (a specialised form of pacemaker designed to improve heart function). He served as a councillor for the British Society of Heart Failure from 2005-7 and was elected Deputy Chairman of the Society in 2007. He is a Clinical Advisor to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on cardiac resynchronisation therapy.
After years of adventurous travelling, Peter Cowburn met his Swedish wife cycling in Northern Ireland. They live in Romsey with their young baby boy and a small Swedish dog!
Peter Golledge
Peter Golledge is Consultant Cardiologist at The Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester and at The Wessex Cardiothoracic Unit, Southampton University Hospital. He qualified from Manchester University in 1989 and undertook clinical training in cardiothoracic and transplantation medicine at Wythenshawe Hospital, South Manchester, before embarking on general internal medicine training in Stoke-on-Trent towards obtaining Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 1993. Further training in nephrology followed this in Sydney, Australia, followed by postgraduate cardiology training at St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Hospital’s and The London Chest Hospital. Peter spent 2 years in research as British Heart Foundation Junior Fellow at Charterhouse Square, University of London and The London Chest Hospital, addressing free radical species, nitric oxide generation and platelet activation during coronary angioplasty. The final part of his registrar training involved supervision of the cardiovascular assessment to high risk obstetrics at The Royal London Hospital and management of complex hypertension. He was appointed to his consultant post in 2004.
As well as general adult cardiology, Peter’s interests are invasive cardiology, coronary artery disease, cardiac and cardio-renal failure, hypertension, transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography and cardiac pacing.
Peter’s wife is a GP and they have three active young children and live just north of Winchester. He is a keen cyclist, runner and swimmer but alas, his competitive football days are probably over. He is passionate about the mountains and ski touring.
Drew Rakhit
Drew Rakhit graduated from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School in 1993 and trained as a cardiologist in London. He is a specialist in all types of echocardiography, including 3D echo, tissue Doppler, stress and contrast echo, transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) and optimisation echo for patients with pacing devices . In 2003 he undertook a training fellowship in advanced echocardiography under the supervision of Professor Tom Marwick at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. He has presented his work at a number of prestigious national and international meetings and completed his PhD titled 'The Use of Echocardiography to Screen High-Risk Patients for Subclinical Cardiac Disease in 2006.
Dr Rakhit has a special interest in stress echo and has written first author papers published in peer-reviewed journals in many aspects of echocardiography. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family and watching & playing football
Simon Corbett
Simon Corbett qualified from St John’s College, Cambridge in 1997 with a distinction in Medicine and a first class honours degree in Pathology. He subsequently trained in General (Internal) Medicine and Cardiology in Edinburgh, London and Milan. His principal subspecialty interest is in interventional cardiology and he was privileged to spend a one year long fellowship with the internationally renowned pioneer and practitioner of coronary stenting, Dr Antonio Colombo at San Raffaele and Columbus Hospitals in Milan, Italy from 2005-6. Prior to his appointment as a Consultant Cardiologist with an interest in Coronary Intervention at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust in June 2008, he was a Locum Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the Hammersmith Hospital in London. He has a longstanding interest in research, from his PhD in antibody engineering with Sir Greg Winter FRS at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge (under the auspices of the University of Cambridge’s intercalated MB/PhD Programme), through to ongoing participation in multi-centre randomised clinical trials in the Wessex Cardiothoracic Centre in Southampton. He has published numerous articles on outcomes with drug-eluting stents in humans in peer-reviewed medical journals and also presented his work at national and international meetings.
Outside of medicine, he is a keen musician and he met his violinist wife while playing the flute in the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra. He currently wishes he had more time to prevent ongoing deterioration in the standard of his piano playing. As an indicator of his level of sporting prowess, it is fair to say that both of his sons (aged 6 and 22 months) are almost certainly better at football than him.