This project will impact the cardiovascular care of athletes by improving our understanding of how the heart adapts to high level exercise (“athlete’s heart”), the features of which overlap with serious genetic heart diseases. Given the potential risk of these diseases predisposing the athlete to dangerous rhythm problems, heart failure and sudden cardiac death, being able to appropriately identify, assess and risk stratify athletes at risk is critical. This project aims to utilise comprehensive clinical assessment, personalised genomic analysis and novel molecular technologies to better differentiate between exercise-induced cardiac changes, from those which are more representative of underlying disease. My research objectives are to optimise cardiac assessment in athletes, improve risk stratification and diagnostic certainty in athletes with genetic heart disease, to remove inappropriate barriers to athletes participating in sports due to perceived cardiac risk and ultimately to improve athlete cardiac care.
Last updated12 March 2024