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Cardiovascular Working Group

The cardiovascular working group (CV WG) of the South Asian Health Foundation seeks to promote improvements in cardiovascular health, disease and healthcare in South Asians where these are found to be inferior to other segments of the population.

It has represented South Asian health interests at a national, regional and local level - the SAHF CV WG has become a highly respected voice at these levels. We have so far provided advice to: Government Health Committees, NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) Guideline groups and appraisal committees, National Heart Forum, British Heart Foundation, NGO Forum, West Midlands Cardiac Strategic Review, WELLCOME, National electronic library for health and the British Cardiovascular Society. SAHF has assisted the Department of Health to produce a toolkit highlighting models of good practice in management and prevention of heart disease in South Asians. This document has been widely distributed throughout the UK and SAHF continues to promote its distribution and was contributed to by several members of the SAHF board. SAHF has therefore increased awareness of models of good practice in healthcare delivery to ethnic minorities. The Cardiovascular working group gave specific advice to the Department of Health on the Health Checks programme launched in April 2009. SAHF CVD has contributed to the steering group of Cardio/Vascular Coalition of over 30 voluntary sector organisations. www.cardiovascularcoalition.org.uk.

The SAHF CV WG has also delivered health promotion and education to healthcare professionals and communities. The SACHE (South Asian Community Health Education and Empowerment Campaign) programme was designed by the UK charity South Asian Health Foundation to provide health education to patients, the public and health professionals, for the primary and secondary prevention of heart disease. Its aim was to deliver a heart health education campaign at a grassroots level tailored to the diverse needs of each South Asian community, delivered in a language, format and style familiar to these communities. SAHCE was piloted in communities by medical members of SAHF working in local general practices and hospitals. The success of these initial community education sessions led to the planning and delivery of many more education sessions across the UK.

SAHF CV has also facilitated high quality scholarship and research – many of the group are academics, working on research projects in South Asian health. Many academic meetings have been organised by the group, the first being the 2001 symposium entitled ‘The epidemic of coronary heart disease in South Asian populations: causes and consequences’ which was held in London. The symposium was attended by 50 eminent individuals, including Professor Liam Donaldson (Chief Medical Officer) both from the UK and abroad, each of whom played an important role in cardiovascular disease and ethnicity ranging from research to healthcare delivery. The symposium was co-hosted by the Department of Health and the British Heart Foundation. On December 17th 2004, SAHF organised a symposium entitled ‘Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Cardiovascular Disease in South Asians: Implementing Good Practice,’ co-hosted by the BHF and Department of Health. This was attended by nearly 200 delegates from a wide range of backgrounds from the health service (ranging from Chief Medical Officers to medical and nursing students), academia and the general public. In December 2005, SAHF hosted a national conference on ‘CHD in South Asians: A Workshop of Experts to Identify Research Needs and Promote Good Practice’ at the BMA House in London. This was attended by over 100 experts and lively debate resulted in the publication of consensus documents on risk prediction, lifestyle factors (a session co-hosted with the National Heart Forum), diabetes and metabolic syndrome and access issues. In 2011 at the annual conference, SAHF CV WG hosted a workshop on CV prevention projects from around the country, attracting eight other groups to showcase the success of other community projects alongside the success of SAHCE.

SAHF CV has its own keynote publication, ‘The epidemic of coronary heart disease in South Asian populations: causes and consequences.’ This is a high quality publication (with excellent reviews in several medical journals) on the topic of ethnicity and cardiovascular disease. It has already been widely distributed throughout the UK, to the lead cardiologist in every NHS Trust, medical libraries, all UK university libraries, healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations as well as relevant individuals. Nearly 1000 copies have been distributed, with contributions gratefully acknowledged from the Department of Health and British Heart Foundation.
 

Dr Mahendra Patel

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Academic Pharmacist

Working Group Chair

Dr Mahendra Patel is an academic pharmacist who has set up and steered the Northern England activities of SAHF, in particular delivering several community based community education events to thosae groups conventionally deemed 'hard to reach' in the Yorkshire region. In addition, he has published widely in the field of medicines concordance and also served on the NICE guideline group for MEdicines Concordance.

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Dr Amitava Banerjee

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NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine and Honorary Specialist Registrar in Cardiology

Amitava Banerjee is NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine and Honorary Specialist Registrar in Cardiology. He qualified MBBCh from Oxford Medical School in 2002, where he was awarded the Radcliffe Prize for contribution to clinical school life. He trained as a junior doctor in Oxford, Newcastle, Hull and London, and took up his Clinical Lecturer post in Cardiology in Birmingham in March 2011. His interest in preventive cardiology led him to complete a Masters in Public Health at Harvard University in 2004/05, funded by a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship. Epidemiology and evidence-based medicine were the obvious ways to marry his passions for cardiology and public health. He first worked with the Cardiovascular Diseases Division at the World Health Organisation as an intern in 2005, but has continued to work there as a Temporary Advisor.

In 2011, he completed his DPhil in cardiovascular epidemiology in the Stroke Prevention Research Unit in Oxford, focusing on acute coronary syndromes under the supervision of Professor Peter Rothwell. During his DPhil, he held a Graduate Scholarship in Sciences at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford. He has presented his research work at several national and international meetings and has over 30 scientific publications. He received a Young Investigator Award at the European Stroke Conference in 2008 and an Early Career Travel Award from the American Heart Association in 2009. His major global health interests are access to medicines and the burden of cardiovascular disease in India.

Medical education has always been a keen interest, and Ami was previously Tutor for Clinical Studies at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford (2006-2010). He continues to regularly teach undergraduate and postgraduate students. Outside of clinical practice, his interests include global health, improving access to medicines and medical education. In addition, public engagement in science has developed as an important area of his work. Ami co-founded the popular blog, 'Trust the evidence': http://blogs.trusttheevidence.net/, which aims to 'unpack' the data and statistics in news stories about health and health research, and has an active twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/amibanerjee1.

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Dr Justin Zaman

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Consultant Cardiologist

Dr Justin Zaman (BSc MBBS MRCP MSc PhD) is a Consultant Cardiologist at the James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia.
He was a Specialist Registrar in Cardiology based in the Cambridge region from 2002 to 2009, and a Walport Academic Clinical Lecturer in Cardiology at University College London (UCL) from 2009-2011. After qualifying from University College and Middlesex School of Medicine in 1997, he undertook SHO posts at the Royal Free, Kings College and Royal Brompton Hospitals. He is also a fully-trained Epidemiologist, having read for his PhD in the department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London (2004-2007), supported by a personal fellowship from the British Heart Foundation. He completed an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in 2005. He won the Berkeley Fellowship in 2009 which allowed him to undertake a research sabbatical at The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney.
His research focuses broadly on social inequalities in heart disease prevalence, care and outcomes, both in the UK where he is working on the effects of older age on heart attack care and outcomes having previously worked on ethnic inequalities at UCL, and in the developing world where he works on socioeconomic inequality. In Sydney he worked on the distribution of heart disease in rural India and on global patterns of hospitalisation in diabetics. He has also published on the effects of rural-urban migration on angina in Peru with colleagues at LSHTM and on compliance to statin treatment in China with colleagues at UEA and Peking University/George Institute China. He is also the module leader for the non-communicable diseases course at peoples-uni.com, an on-line university that teaches public health science to students in developing countries at low cost. He is involved in voluntary clinical, research and training work in a rural hospital on the outskirts of Kolkata, India and regularly gives BMJ Master classes over video-link to doctors in South Asia. He is also an international health advisor to the Royal College of Physicians.

He has been active in the organisation and running of the community programmes for SAHF, having previously been chair of its cardiovascular group for 5 years, and has been an advocate for the Bangladeshi community for the prevention of heart disease through his liaisons with community groups and through appearances on cable television shows.

Email: drjustinzaman@sahf.org.uk

Dr Kiran C R Patel

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Chair of Trustees

Dr Patel is a Cambridge University graduate and a Consultant Cardiologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Sandwell, Birmingham. A founder member of the charity, he has chaired the board of Trustees since inception.

He is involved in strategic work with NHS West Midlands and the Department of Health, as well as being involved with NICE guidelines in the UK. He is a trustee also to the National Heart forum and sits on various national boards.

At a local level, he is committed to improving healthcare in one of the most deprived areas of the UK, in Sandwell, the place of his birth, where he has returned to work since 2005.

His research interests include ethnicity and cardiovascular disease, advanced heart failure and cellular electrophysiology.

His passion is harnessing the collective philanthropy of healthcare professionals to improve the quality of healthcare experienced by the individual.

Email: drkiranpatel@sahf.org.uk

Dr Monèm Jemni

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SAHF Specialist Advisor: Physical Activity Expert

Dr Monèm Jemni is currently an Associate Professor in Exercise Physiology at the University of Greenwich, UK. He was a former gymnast and international coach who gained world leading recognition as a result of cutting edge research in the physiology of this sport. He has lectured and received outstanding academic awards in Universities in France, Tunisia, and USA and currently in the UK.

Monèm’s research background was related to the physiological aspects of human performance. He then got more interested in the effect of exercise on health, seeing the wider epidemics that affect communities. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, mental health, and cardiovascular related conditions to different forms of exercise are now his main focus.

Monèm has a strong international network with different parts of the world. He speaks and writes fluently three languages (English, French, and Arabic and currently learning Spanish).

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Dr Pankaj Sharma

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Pankaj Sharma is a founding Trustee of SAHF and treasurer of the organisation. A former BHF Clinician Scientist at Cambridge University and US Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Medical School, he has a long standing interest in the cardiovascular health of South Asians. He heads the Imperial College Cerebrovascular Research Unit (ICCRU) and was formly head of acute stroke services at Hammersmith Hospitals.

Dr Sharma holds doctorates from both universities of Cambridge and London and is the only neurologist in the UK to hold European accreditation in the management of hypertension. He sits on a number of charitable boards including being the Hon. Medical Director of Different Strokes.

Email: drsharma@sahf.org.uk

Dr Paramjit Gill

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General Practitioner

Dr Gill Patron for West Midlands: is an academic General Practitioner at the University of Birmingham and is actively examining and addressing health inequalities in health and health care, particularly amongst the migrant communities.

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Dr Rumeena Gujral

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Rumeena Gujral is a Trustee and Press secretary for SAHF, serves on the cardiovascular working group of SAHF and is National Coordinator of the “SACHE” (“Truth”) campaign of community health education events and lectures. Rumeena is a Senior House Oficer in Accident and Emergency and also an independent film producer. She co-produced “Dil ki Baatein” / “Matters of the Heart” with SAHF. This Bollwood style comedy to raise awareness of heart disease it the South Asian community won the BUPA Foundation Communication Award in 2007 and is being used internationally. Rumeena is currently working with SAHF’s Diabetes Working Group on “Meethi Baatein” / “Sweet Talk”, a comedy to raise awarenss of diabetes in the South Asian Community.

Email: rumeenagujral@sahf.org.uk

Ms Chetali Agrawal

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Professor Raj Bhopal (CBE)

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Professor Bhopal is Professor of Public Health at Edinburgh University, Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He is an expert in, and internationally respected leader of health research in ethnic minority communities.

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Sr Ranjit Dhillon

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Cardiac Nurse Specialist

A Cardiac Nurse Specialist working at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust, Ranjit has been instrumental in taking the SACHE programme to communities in the West Midlands and in particular in the Walsall area, where with the local PCT, all ethnic groups have had the opportunity to benefit from community health promotion.

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