Cathy has a long standing interest into the causes and prevention of vascular occlusion and stem cell approaches for treatment of myocardial infarction. She has conducted research funded by MRC, British Heart Foundation and Industry.  She has served on  the British Atherosclerosis Society committee, previously was an elected council member of the British Society for Cardiovascular Research  and is a member of several other professional organisations.  She regularly reviews manuscripts and grants for various international journals and funding agencies, she  is on the Editorial Board of the journal "Clinical Science" and is Section Head for the Cardiovascular Physiology/Circulation Section in Faculty of 1000 (www.f1000.com).  In addition she has held  teaching roles to undergraduate medical and life science students as well as post graduate supervision.  Cathy's teaching was recently recognised with the award of a Senior Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy.

Currently Honorary Senior Lecturer within  the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Manchester.  Prior to this position, she was Lecturer in Cardiac Sciences at the University of Sheffield (1992-2001).   Her British Heart Foundation funded post-doctoral training was undertaken in the laboratory of Gianni Angelini, University of Sheffield (1990-1992) and prior  to this she was awarded her PhD (1989) from The University of Sheffield on the involvement of the vasculature in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. 

She has previously served on the British Atherosclerosis Society Committee and the British Society for Cardiovascular Research  Council and is a member of several other professional associations.  She is on the Editorial Board of the jornal "Clinical Science"  has co-organised several national and international meetings and regularly reviews manuscripts for international journals and  grants for various funding organisations. She regularly acts as external examiner and has been invited to speak at various national and international meetings.  She was awarded a  Senior Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy in 2015.

Atherosclerosis leads to coronary heart disease which is responsible for more than 110,000 deaths in the UK per year; more than 1.4 million people in the suffer from angina and around 300,000 people have a heart attack each year. Thus, there remains a major requirement for investigations regarding the underlying causes and mechanisms. Vascular occlusion is a characteristic feature of several important vascular pathologies including atherosclerosis. It also occurs following the major interventional treatments for atherosclerosis ie percutaneous coronary interventions (angioplasty and stenting), and bypass graft surgery. My research focuses on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and vascular occlusion that occurs following stenting and bypass surgery. The role of transcription factors, in particular c-myb  is being investigated as well as the role of calcium in atherogenesis.  This research is performed  using isolated vascular cells, whole vessels and in vivo models of atherosclerosis, restenosis and angioplasty.  In addition, in collaboration with a clinical cardiologist and Industry, the use of genetically modified stem cells for the treatment of myocardial infarction is being investigated in a large animal model.

Leadership

Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Senior Post Graduate Tutor,  Division of  Cardiovascular Sciences

Undergraduate

Lecturer: Life Sciences: BIOL30362, Cardiovascular Systems in Health and Disease

Lecturer: MBChB

Tutor, Ist year PEPs: MBChB

Tutor, 2nd Year PEPs: MBChB

Tutor, APEPs: MBChB

Project Supervisor: Intercalated BSc pathology students

Postgraduate

Previously sucessfully supervised 10 PhD students, 2 MD students and 1 MPhil student and several MRes students

Currently supervise Fatemeh Jafarzadeh's PhD (BHF 4 year PhD Programme)

Tutor and Project supervisor: MRes in Life Sciences

Module co-ordinator, tutor and project supervisor: MRes Cardiovascular Sciences

Postgraduate opportunities

Enquiries from prospective postgraduate students wishing to undertake a higher degree in the area of cardiovascular biology are welcome

Collaborators:

Professor  Yvonne Alexander

Manchester Metroploitan University

Professor Clare Austin

Edge Hill University

Professor David Eisner

University of Manchester

Professor Moustapha Kassem

University of Southern Denmark

Dr Ashraf Kitmitto

University of Manchester

Professor Andrew Lewis

Biocompatibles PLC

Dr Nadim Malik

University of Manchester

Dr Tao Wang

University of Manchester

Editorial Board, Clinical Science

British Cardiovascular Society

British Society for Cardiovascular Research - committee member

British Atherosclerosis Society-committee member

British Microcirculation Society

European Atherosclerosis Society

European Society for Microcirculation

European Vascular Biology Organisation

International Society for Heart Research

Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology

Basic Laboratory Sciences including:

Experimental models of vascular disease including atherosclerosis, restenosis and myocardial infarction

Isolation and culture of vascular cells

Determination of proliferation, apoptosis, protein & gene expression

Histopathological techniques

BSc, Hons University of Sheffield

PhD, University of Sheffield

Diploma in Management Studies

Senior Fellowship, Higher Education Academy