A new Scottish collaboration is being created to bring together academics, NHS clinicians and patient advocacy organisations to support new discoveries and innovation in cardiovascular diseases research and translate them into improved prevention and care.

The Cardiovascular Academic Network of Scotland (CLANS) is being led jointly by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, in what is being heralded as the first formal collaboration of its type between the institutions, to tackle the toll from cardiovascular disease, which accounts for more than a quarter of all deaths in Scotland.

The network is being kick-started by a £5 million investment from the British Heart Foundation, with a further £500,000 from the Stroke Association to set up a stroke specific workstream.

NHS Scotland’s involvement is being led by the government’s Chief Scientist Office and the NHS Research Scotland research networks.

The network partners say, while research leading to innovations in prevention and treatment has helped transform survival from cardiovascular diseases in recent decades, mortality improvements have now stalled.

CLANS co-director, Professor Rachel Myles, Professor of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Glasgow says the network will seek to boost every aspect of heart and circulatory health research:

“We have designed CLANS to have a broad impact from discovery science right through to clinical trials, across a range of cardiovascular disorders. We have also designed it so that patients and the public are a key part of the network so that they can help us shape the impact that comes through our research.”

Fellow co-director, Professor David Newby, BHF Duke of Edinburgh Professor of Cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, says the network can achieve more by formalising collaboration between research and clinical teams:

At the moment we are all working separately to a degree, although we do collaborate, but this investment from the BHF will synergise that more.

“It will be a catalyst for us all to work together as a concerted effort – rather than doing it for each of the individual universities - we are Team Scotland, and we are going to come together as CLANS to really deliver the best research.”

The Scottish government’s Chief Scientist for Health, Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, is welcoming CLAN’s ‘Team Scotland’ approach:

“The partnership between the Scottish government and British Heart Foundation is a strategic investment in Scotland’s cardiovascular research future.

“By bringing together national priorities with BHF’s expertise and support, the network will strengthen collaboration across academia, the NHS, industry and communities, and help build the capacity and leadership needed for long-term research impact.”

Stroke research

One CLANS workstream will focus on stroke, funded by the Stroke Association.

The charity’s medical director, Professor Deb Lowe says CLANS is creating new opportunities for research in Scotland:

“We’re really pleased to be investing in CLANS and in the future of stroke research in Scotland.

“The British Heart Foundation’s investment has created an opportunity for charities to build on each other’s strengths and achieve far more together than we could separately.

“Through our investment in the CLANS stroke programme, we’ll help strengthen research capacity, develop data-enabled research, and support future stroke research leaders, while connecting researchers and professionals across the whole stroke pathway. That breadth matters if we’re going to accelerate progress for people affected by stroke, from acute care through to rehabilitation and recovery.”

 

Read more recent stories on cardiovascular research: Scottish health research register celebrates 15 years; Millions to go to support NHS obesity programmes; Heart failure being missed in diabetes patients; More younger Scots dying from stroke; Thrombectomy limitations laid bare

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