Cardiovascular Research Fellow

About Us

The School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine & Sciences (SCMMS) provides an outstanding multi-disciplinary environment for the pursuit of cutting-edge cardiovascular and metabolic research (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/scms).  

We study the fundamental molecular, cellular, and physiological processes that underly normal and abnormal cardiovascular and metabolic function and we drive the translation of this strong basic science into advances in clinical practice to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment.  This activity provides a high-quality research and training environment for non-clinical and clinical scientists.

The School occupies facilities across the Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Denmark Hill campuses of King’s College London and comprises over 65 academic groups, hosting 400 staff and 110 PhD students. 

Our community of world-renowned researchers and educators have access to a state-of-the art core facilities and expertise, including for high-throughput screening, multimodality in vivo imaging, proteomics, integrative physiology and viral & non-viral vector production. As part of King’s Health Partners, we have an excellent environment for basic-clinical interaction and a strong focus on mentoring and career development. 

The School is a partner of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St. Thomas’, which offers world class facilities for translational studies and phase I/II clinical trials. The post is based within the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences at the Southbank Campus.  The School and these Centres provide an outstanding highly multidisciplinary environment with state-of-the-art equipment, facilities and technical support for both laboratory work and animal studies. 

About The Role

A position is available for a Cardiovascular Research Fellow (Cardiac Physiologist / Clinical Scientist) within the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences at King’s College London. This jointly funded post between King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust is embedded within one of the UK’s leading echocardiography research groups. The role offers a unique combination of clinical service delivery and academic research, providing an excellent opportunity for both professional and academic development.

The successful candidate will perform and independently report clinical echocardiography examinations to British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) standards. They will lead research clinics jointly overseen by the Echocardiography Department at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (clinical governance) and the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at King’s College London (academic governance), including but not limited to Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) Optimisation and Inherited Cardiac Conditions clinics. The post holder will also undertake vascular and other physiological assessments in accordance with research study protocols. BSE Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography Accreditation (or an equivalent qualification) is an essential requirement for this role.

Working under the supervision of Dr Haotian Gu (Principal Investigator), the post holder will contribute to the NIHR-funded EFFECT-CRT study, the British Heart Foundation-funded EF1 in CRT study, and other research projects led by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Cardiovascular Research & Development team. Academic responsibilities will include supporting study coordination, data management and analysis, and the preparation of reports, presentations, and scientific publications.

The post will be primarily based at the Clinical Research Facility, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, with travel to other study sites required as part of the research programme.

This is a full-time post (40 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for two years from start of contract.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience: 

Essential criteria

1. BSc or equivalent in a subject relevant to cardiovascular research  
2. British Society of Echocardiography Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography Accreditation or equivalent  
3. Clinical echocardiographic experience – equivalent to NHS Band 7 
4. Knowledge of cardiovascular physiology  
5. Good written and presentation skills 
6. Good IT skills 

Desirable criteria

1. Post-graduate qualification or PhD in a subject relevant to cardiovascular research 
2. Experience in cardiovascular research management 
3. Experience in grant application  
4. Experience in conference presentation 
5. Experience in research publication 

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.