Could you help us embed patient perspectives in our work developing new medicines to fix failing hearts?
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. Coronary artery disease leading to heart attack and ultimately heart failure is the biggest contributor. There is no known cure for heart failure, other than organ transplantation. This complex treatment is limited by the availability of donor hearts and the lifelong need for drugs to prevent organ rejection after transplant.
Existing medicines can maintain surviving heart muscle and blood vessels after heart attack but cannot undo the damage. New treatments are needed to regenerate injured hearts and reverse heart failure.
The MRC/BHF Centre of Research Excellence in Advanced Cardiac Therapies will accelerate the development of advanced therapies for heart attack and heart failure. We are uniting academic, healthcare, industry and public partners to develop new medicines and deliver them to patients with injured or failing hearts.
The centre was founded in 2025 with UK government funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and charity funding from the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Our university partners are King’s College London, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford. Staff at the University of Edinburgh are leading patient involvement activities.
Our centre’s work will be overseen by an independent advisory board. This will be a group of international researchers, clinicians and industry leaders. We want patient and public representation on this board to help us embed lived experience in our governance.
Who we are looking for:
We would like to hear from patients, carers or family members who can advocate for:
• people with lived experience or at high risk of heart attack or failure
• people who have received gene therapy treatments
• people from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical research
What your role will be:
• attend closed meetings, usually online, to discuss our goals and progress
• review documents and summaries in advance of meetings
• offer personal and community insights to ensure our projects address patient needs
• share ideas and practice that you see and find value in elsewhere
• discuss our wider communication, engagement and involvement plans
What you need to be able to do:
• work as part of a team and respect the views of others
• demonstrate honesty and integrity, including with confidential information
• be comfortable sharing your opinions and personal experiences of heart disease
• have IT skills and internet access, or work with us to put in place alternatives
• commit approximately 2 hours per month remotely to review and discuss resources, and 1 full day each year for an in-person meeting, for an initial term of up to 3 years
What you can expect from us:
• all reasonable expenses covered, plus £25 per hour for your time participating
• induction with our PPIE Manager and support to participate fully from our operations team
• updates from our research projects and work with patient and community groups
• resources to inform you about cardiovascular research and gene therapies
You do not need a scientific or medical background for this role, but previous involvement in research projects may be helpful. You will need to be over 18 and based in the UK. If you have difficulty with online documents or forms, please tell us using the details below.
If you have questions, you can email us at info@AdvancedCardiacTherapies.ac.uk.
You can also contact us by post at
MRC/BHF CoRE PPIE
Institute for Regeneration and Repair
University of Edinburgh
4-5 Little France Drive
Edinburgh
EH16 4UU
Act now
We are using a short online survey to collect contact details and understand your background.
We may shortlist and arrange calls to meet applicants if interest is high. Roles may be shared and we may appoint multiple people.
The deadline is 23:59 on Friday 7 November 2025.