Vijay Kunadian

Professor Kunadian is a Professor of Interventional Cardiology holding a Personal Chair at Newcastle University and Honorary Academic Consultant Interventional Cardiologist Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Professor Kunadian completed all her cardiology training in the North East of England. She undertook an international academic fellowship in cardiology at the TIMI/PERFUSE Study group, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston MA. Professor Kunadian has an international reputation in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular research, making her a sought-after and respected speaker at prominent national and international meetings. She has championed diversity in her specialty as a role model; only 5% of interventional cardiologist are female in the UK, <1% are clinical academics/researchers and only female interventional cardiologist holding a University Personal Chair. She is also recipient of the UK Department of Health National Clinical Excellence Bronze Award.

She is UK Chief Investigator in many multicentre clinical trials (The BHF SENIOR RITA Trial, TWILIGHT trial, XIENCE SHORT DAPT Trial, PACIFIC AMI Trial, AEGIS 2 trial, APPLE COPD trial, ICON1 study, ASPIRE study) with major grant awards including from the British Heart Foundation. She has published >180 peer reviewed publications in major journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Nature Reviews, European Heart Journal, Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Heart BMJ, JAMA Cardiology. Her research leadership roles include Country Lead, Trial Executive Steering Committee Member in TWILIGHT, XIENCE SHORT DAPT, AEGIS 2, PACIFIC AMI, iCORMICA trials (TSC Chair); DMC member BHF DUAL ACS trial. She is National Theme Lead for Acute Coronary Syndrome Research Working Group of British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS)/BHF Clinical Research Collaborative. She is UK’s 1st female to be appointed as the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society Research and Development Working Group lead.

She has held (holds) several national and international roles including European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI): Executive Committee Board member; Co-Chair/board member of the Scientific Documents and Initiatives Committee of the EAPCI; Member of ESC Regulatory Affairs Committee; Member of ESC Education Committee, Director of Webinar series, Task Force Lead, Live events, task force lead e-learning; Member of the EAPCI Women’s Committee and Young Committee; Steering Committee member of the Research and Development Committee of the BCIS. She was an expert reviewer of the 2020 ESC non-ST elevation ACS Clinical Practice Guidelines.

She is Associate Editor in many journals including Heart BMJ (Education in Heart), Circulation Interventions, European Heart Journal Digital Health, Asia Intervention, Eurointervention (Senior Consultant), PCROnline Editorial Board. She is expert grant/technology reviewer for major funders including British Heart Foundation, UK Medical Research Council, EU Commission, National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence.

She was instrumental with the successful introduction of the various National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Academic Training Fellowship Programmes in the North East of England and recruitment of highly talented academic cardiology trainees in her role as academic lead. Professor Kunadian mentored >30 post graduates (MD, PhD, MSc, MPhil, MRes) who have won prestigious awards and many of her Fellows are pursuing academia or entered NHS service as Consultant Cardiologists.

In 2019, she was rated by UK National Institute of Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) to have "Better than expected survival (at 2 standard deviation level), 30 days following PCI" for her patients with PCI case volume twice the national average for an academic interventional cardiologist.

She has been chosen by the British Heart Foundation as their panel member for the Bias and Biology Campaign addressing the disparity of care among female patients with heart disease. She was the Chair/Lead author on the ESC/EAPCI Consensus document on INOCA (Ischaemia with non obstructive coronary arteries) which has raised the awareness of this condition worldwide. She has campaigned on the national media including the BBC (local, national and world news), ITV, Channel 4 and newspapers to improve the care of patients with heart disease in particular women and heart disease. She is one of the commissioners on the Lancet Commission to reduce the global burden of heart disease in women by 2030. She was an invited keynote speaker at the United Nations Commission on Status of Women event in March this year discussing- Women and health: Gender Equality/Equity in Healthcare. She was awarded Winner of the UK Times and the Sunday Times We Are The City Rising Star Award (Top 5 Women in Healthcare Category) for 2018. In 2022 she was nominated for the British Heart Foundation Heart Hero Research Engagement Award. She was also nominated for the 2023 Northern Power Women Awards- Disruptor Good Category.