New Heart Centre for the heart of London

Plans are well underway to launch a new Heart Centre in Charterhouse Square, close to Barts in the City. This is desperately important as the ethnically diverse local population of East London has among the worst rates of heart disease in Western Europe.

The new Cardiac Centre of Excellence will open at Barts in 2014, offering state-of-the-art clinical facilities and the best possible cardiac care. Around the corner, a new development is under construction to create a research facility dedicated to translating laboratory based research into a clinical environment in a new Heart Centre based at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry in Charterhouse Square.

The centre will focus on various elements of cardiovascular disease, from the use of stem cells in the treatment of heart attacks, to better understanding the disorders of heart rhythm that affect 10% of the elderly population.

The building is now complete and the next stage is to fit-out and equip the research facility with the aim of commencing activities in October 2010.

Mark Caulfield, the project champion said: “The new Heart Centre will deliver world-class translational research dedicated to cardiovascular disease. We are ideally placed to lead cardiovascular research in the UK due to our unique patient population, the existing and impending hospital facilities and our rich legacy of academic success.”

• To find out how you can support the development of the new Heart Centre, please contact the fundraising team on 020 7618 1720

Doctors can develop their skills by practising surgical techniques on artificial hearts