Kenneth Macleod

Biography

Ken MacLeod was educated at Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities and, before working his way south, spent two years at the University of California in the laboratory of Don Bers. Here he acquired an interest in the mechanisms underlying cardiac excitation-contraction coupling and brought this research topic back to the Department of Cardiac Medicine headed by Peter Harris in what was then called the Cardiothoracic Institute. He extended the scope of the research to investigate how the electrical and contractile events in the heart change during the progression of ischaemic disease and the development of cardiac hypertrophy and failure. The research projects presently underway in the laboratory continue to examine the processes that control cardiac cell contraction in health and disease. Investigation of these processes are fundamental to our understanding of the workings of the heart, will allow a more logical approach to therapy and, in the longer term, may provide impetus for the generation of novel treatments. Ken has held various academic positions within the National Heart and Lung Institute and Imperial College London. He teaches cardiac electrophysiology and the cardiovascular system to medical undergraduates and postgraduates at all stages of their training. Past members of his lab now hold academic positions in medicine, work for various pharmaceutical companies (GSK, Genzyme, Pfizer) or are established cardiologists.

Research Interest

cardiology, Cardiovascular Research