Barbara Casadei

Professor Barbara Casadei is Head of the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist. She graduated in Medicine at the University of Pavia, Italy and moved to the University of Oxford in 1989 where she was awarded a DPhil in 1995 and a Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine in 2006. Professor Casadei’s research spans multiple areas of cardiovascular medicine. Through training as a myocardial biologist and cellular electrophysiologist, Casadei developed an interest in atrial fibrillation, diabetic cardiomyopathy, and heart failure. She has had a global impact on cardiovascular medicine, spearheading an internationally leading bench-to-bedside research programme on atrial fibrillation, spanning investigations from human tissue and cells to clinical trials. More recently, Professor Casadei and her collaborators established that mechanistic pathways underlying the genetic predisposition to atrial fibrillation are associated with distinct intermediate cardiac phenotypes, and a different risk of cardioembolic stroke. These findings provide a better understanding of the aetiological heterogeneity driving the development of atrial fibrillation and, as a consequence, a route to effective personalised treatment strategies. Professor Casadei was elected President of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2016 – the first woman to hold this position since the Society’s foundation in 1950 – where she established the European Cardiovascular Patient Forum, Women in the ESC (WinESC) and EuroHeart, an international collaboration that aims to advance the standard of cardiovascular care and has successfully built a European-wide infrastructure for cost-effective safety surveillance of new drugs and devices, and pragmatic clinical trials across multiple geographies. Professor Casadei is passionate about ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion within the university for both the wellbeing of staff and their subsequent development. Alongside being on the board of WomenAsOne (2022-), Professor Casadei contributed to the BHF’s EDI strategy (Igniting Change, 2022) and the American College of Cardiology’s Taskforce on Diversity (2017-19). Her leadership is characterised by a focus on fostering collaboration, bridging gaps between research disciplines, and encouraging scientists to take intellectual risks. With a career spanning over 35 years, Professor Casadei is recognised as an influential leader in cardiology; delivering more than 100 Keynote or Named lectures alongside being recognised by a number of prestigious awards, such as the Mackenzie Medal of the British Cardiovascular Society (2020), Gold Medal of the European Society of Cardiology (2020), Roman W. DeSanctis Visiting Professorship at Harvard Medical School (2021), Lucian Award at McGill University (2022), and the Gustav Nylin Medal of the Swedish Cardiac Society (2023). Professor Casadei is a NIHR Senior Investigator and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.