Public Lecture by Professor Andrew Newby
Who nearly killed Sir Ranulph Fiennes? A private investigation into the causes of heart attacks and how to stop them
by Andrew Newby,
British Heart Foundation Professor of Vascular Cell Biology
6pm Tuesday 18 September 2007, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road
6.00 – 7.00 pm public lecture (booking not required)
7.00 – 8.00 pm drinks reception - all welcome
In a role inspired by Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, Professor Andrew Newby will seek to find the agent responsible for the near sudden death at Bristol International Airport of one of Britain’s most intrepid adventurers, Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He will visit the scene of the crime – the coronary artery – and interrogate each of the likely culprits. He will describe how the latest scientific tools are providing ever-greater ‘forensic’ clues to identify the guilty party. Finally, addressing all the assembled suspects, he will give his verdict and suggest how such crimes may be avoided in future.
Professor Newby came to Bristol in 1994 from Cardiff, and since then has established a research team of international excellence, collaborating closely with cardiac surgeons and cardiologists in Bristol Royal Infrimary. His team work on:
- prolonging the life of vein-grafts (the sections of leg veins used in heart bypass operations)
- mechanisms of atherosclerosis (the process where arteries become "furred up" or blocked due to build up of fatty material
- understanding why heart attacks happen, and ways of preventing this
General information on heart attacks
Coronary heart disease is the biggest single cause of death in the UK, causing one in five deaths in men and one in six in women; almost all of the deaths are due to a heart attack. Although 1.3 million people in the UK have survived a heart attack, they are the lucky ones: a third of all victims die before reaching hospital. Professor Newby will talk about the latest research at the Bristol Heart Institute, which aims to prevent and treat heart attacks in the 21st century.
For more information about heart disease, visit the British Heart Foundation's website at:
http://www.bhf.org.uk