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Sharpening the Decline in Heart Disease

On the 9th of December 1988 — at a time when ill health in Scotland due to heart disease was among the highest in the world — Scottish leaders and healthcare specialists came together to form SHARP: Scottish Heart & Arterial Disease Risk Prevention. The heart charity envisioned a heart-healthy Scotland.

Since then, through our important research and educational initiatives, every consecutive committee has been building on this shared goal of 'sharp'ening the decline in heart disease.

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Our Patrons

Jackie Ashley

Jackie Ashley

Patron

Jackie Ashley is Chair of the National Brain Appeal which funds research and capital projects concerning all aspects of brain injury. She was previously President, Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge, and before that was a political journalist for more than 30 years. Jackie worked at the BBC, ITN, Channel 4, the Guardian and the New Statesman and wrote regularly about health and social care issues. Her husband, the broadcaster Andrew Marr, suffered a major stroke in 2013 and Jackie was his full-time carer for a year.
James Robson

James Robson

Patron

James Robson joined the Scotland team as doctor at the start of season 2002/2003 following his previous position as physiotherapist from 1991-96. He was doctor for Scotland A from 1998 – 2002 and the doctor/physio for Scotland 7s from 1996 – 2001. He was also team doctor on six British & Irish Lions tours (New Zealand 1993 and 2005, South Africa 1997 and 2009 and Australia 2001 and 2013). In addition he has been to 8 Rugby World Cups. In March 2021, James marked his 250th appearance as team doctor at an international match when Scotland played Italy at BT Murrayfield. Robson, based in Dundee where he lives with wife Christine, also a GP, and their two daughters, is now Scottish Rugby’s Chief Medical Officer. He received an MBE for services to rugby in the 2018 New Year Honours list. Eight years previously he was awarded a Fellowship ad hominem from The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Featured Stories

The Background and Work of SHARP: Past and Present

14 October 2024

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Featured

The Background and Work of SHARP: Past and Present

The SHARP Bus: Scotland's First Mobile Screening Unit

1 December 1991

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Featured

The SHARP Bus: Scotland's First Mobile Screening Unit

Committee

Dr. Mary Joan Macleod

Dr. Mary Joan Macleod

Chair (2025), SHARP / Professor in Clinical Pharmacology & Honorary Consultant Physician

Mary Joan Macleod MB ChB PhD FRCP has a personal Chair in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Aberdeen, and is an Honorary Consultant Physician at NHS Grampian. Her main research interests are stroke epidemiology (particularly how service organisation and treatment affect outcomes after stroke), stroke clinical trials and stroke imaging (particularly low field MRI). She is responsible for assessment of the final year of the MBChB course. Other roles include 1:6 cover of acute stroke admissions, Chair of NHS Grampian/University of Aberdeen Clinical Studies Oversight Group, Clinical Lead of the Scottish Stroke Care Audit and Honorary Deputy Secretary of the British and Irish Association of Stroke Physicians. Former roles include Chair of Scotland A and B Research Ethics Committees.
Dr. William Simpson

Dr. William Simpson

Treasurer, SHARP / Consultant Chemical Pathologist

Bill Simpson was born and grew up in Glasgow. He studied medicine there, graduating in 1984, and continued to spend his early post graduate years around Central Scotland. In 1990 he moved to Aberdeen to finish his training in Chemical Pathology. As a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, he held a Consultant post in the Clinical Biochemistry Department of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary from 1997 to 2022. His main areas of clinical and research interest were lipids and nutrition. In 2006 he brought together some interested colleagues to form the Scottish Lipid Forum (SLF), the aim being to provide an educational programme and to develop and share strategies for the best treatment of hyperlipidaemias across Scotland. This proved quite popular, and was adopted as a vehicle for roll out of the screening programme for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia in Scotland. This opened up invitations to speak at locations from Aberdeen to Australia. Probably his most significant achievement was with a PowerPoint slide during a talk on FH in Westminster. The slide was completely blank, but the commentary, "What England is doing about FH", was taken as a wake up call by NHS England! Bill remains active in SLF and many of the other notable organisations for which he has held national roles: The Association for Clinical Pathologists (ACP) - Past President, Treasurer, and previously Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Chemical Pathology; the Association for Clinical Biochemistry (ACB) - Chair and Secretary of ACB Scotland, founding Chair of the Nutrition Group of the Clinical Practice Section; Academy of the Medical Royal Colleges - organiser of the Scottish Inter-Collegiate Nutrition Course; Royal College of Pathologists - Regional Tutor, Specialty Advisor, member of the National Quality Assurance Panel; HEART UK founder member and Champion for FH Scotland, and of course SHARP - previous co-Chair, long serving trustee, and currently treasurer.
Dr. Rebecca Wheater

Dr. Rebecca Wheater

Honorary Secretary, SHARP / General Practitioner

GP with an interest in cardiology and respiratory medicine. GP Rep on Angus Adult Protection Committee. SRU Referee and International Time Keeper in my spare time, practising what I preach by keeping active. Trained under Dr TS Callaghan in Angus, when I learned how to do echocardiograms and had my own echo list at Arbroath infirmary in 2000-2001. Member of SHARP since 2001, Chair 2018/19. Member of the Angus CHP Cardiovascular Clinical Working Group from 2001, Chair from 2004-2016, during which I helped to deliver cardiovascular education at PLT and SHARP events. I was Angus Rep on the Tayside Cardiovascular MCN from 2010-2012, when I was Clinical Director for Angus CHP. GP on the SIGN Guideline 148 Acute Coronary Syndrome update in 2016.
Miss Victoria Kirkwood

Miss Victoria Kirkwood

Chair of Communications \ Senior Charity Administrator

Prof. Jill Belch

Prof. Jill Belch

Founding Member / Professor of Vascular Medicine

Jill Belch is a Professor of Vascular Medicine at the University of Dundee, UK. She is a founder Trustee of SHARP and Founder Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society, Edinburgh. Her research interests centre on cardiovascular disease with especial reference to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), air pollution and the microvasculature. She is the Medical School’s Chair of the Sustainability committee, and co-chairs the short-term working group on Air Pollution at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. She is Immediate Past President of both the UK Section of Vascular Medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine and the European Society of Vascular Medicine (ESVM), for whom she also chairs the ESVM Guidelines Committee.
Prof. Adrian Brady

Prof. Adrian Brady

Honorary Professor / Consultant Cardiologist

Professor Brady graduated in Medicine from Edinburgh University in 1985, summa cum laude. He trained in Cardiology at the Hammersmith Hospital, the London Chest Hospital and the National Heart and Lung Institute, London. During his research time Professor Brady won the British Cardiac Society Award and the American Heart Association Young Investigator Award. He was appointed Consultant Cardiologist to Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1996. He is visiting Professor of Cardiology, Mayo Clinic; Visiting Professor of Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic; Visiting Professor of Cardiology, Public Health Foundation of India; Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong College of Cardiology, and Honorary Member of the Korean Society of Cardiology. Professor Brady’s major specialities are the clinical aspects and epidemiology of hypertension, coronary heart disease and pulmonary embolism. He was the principal investigator in four major UK studies (totalling 140,000 patients). He was the Principal Investigator for the UK in the IMPROVE-IT trial (TIMI 40) in acute coronary syndromes (ACS), and currently the KONA WAVE trial in renal denervation. Professor Brady has published >100 papers in medical research journals on the above subjects and also in basic cardiovascular biology. His textbook, “New Perspectives on Hypertension,” is now in its third edition. He is the Principal author of the Hypertension section of the current Mayo Clinic Textbook of Cardiology. Professor Brady has given over >200 invited national and international lectures including Plenary lectures at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the European Atherosclerosis Society, the American Heart Association, the Japanese Circulation Society, the French Cardiac Society, the National Societies of South Korea, Chile, Portugal, Hong Kong, Thailand, Norway, Denmark, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Egypt, the World Congress of Cardiology and the Mayo Clinic. Professor Brady represented the ESC on a lecture tour of China. Professor Brady was elected a Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2003, and the ESC in 2011. He is the Past President of the British and Irish Hypertension Society, past Chairman of the Guidelines Committee of the British Cardiovascular Society, past Chairman of SHARP, and represented the UK on the ESC Guidelines Development Group. Professor Brady was a principal author of the 2007 Scottish National Guideline for Coronary Heart Disease, the 2008 ESC Guideline on Pulmonary Embolism, and the 2010 SIGN Guideline for Venous Thromboembolism (VTE). He was an author of the 2018 European Guideline for Hypertension and will chair the forthcoming 2022 SIGN Guideline for VTE. Professor Brady conceived, developed and led the acclaimed Football Health Scotland study of dietary and lifestyle therapy in middle-aged men. Professor Brady is the clinical lead for this Scotland-wide project, linking football and health across the nation. His Channel 4 television programme about diet and blood pressure was screened in 2018.
Dr. Michelle Collister-Bartlett

Dr. Michelle Collister-Bartlett

General Practitioner

I am a member of the RCGP and I work as a GP in Aberdeen and have a keen interest in cardiovascular disease and prevention as I understand the impact disease has on families after losing my father to a heart attack when he was 42 and fit and well before his death. I have designed in practice protocols to ensure optimal cardiovascular prevention strategies are implemented by the MDT. I have a lifelong interest in education having started life studying Biochemistry in Dundee and went on to do a Ph.D in biochemistry and molecular biology in Dundee. In my thirties I went on to study medicine in Aberdeen and I along with 7 Allied health professionals set up the first interprofessional education conference in Aberdeen. I value being a trustee of SHARP, promoting cardiovascular education for all.
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