Dr Alena Shantsila MD, PhD

Personal Statement

I am a Lecturer in Cardiovascular Health, working at the University of Liverpool from July 2019.

I completed my undergraduate degree in Medicine, MD, with distinction at Grodno State Medical University, Belarus. I practised medicine until 2008, when I joined the University Department of Medicine at City Hospital in Birmingham (University of Birmingham), supported by the Lancet International Fellowship. I explored endothelial damage in patients with malignant hypertension. The results of this study were published in a high-impact journal (Shantsila et al. Hypertension 2011;57:490-6). Later, I was involved in several research projects undertaken in the department, delivering recruitment, imaging and data analyses for the Ethnic-Echocardiographic Heart of England Screening Study (E-ECHOES). I was responsible for developing and validating the methodology of assessment of carotid plaque neovascularisation by contrast ultrasonography and application of the technology in a study. In January 2012, I started my work on a BHF-funded project at the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham, looking at the role of respiratory modulation of muscle sympathetic nerve activity in patients with hypertension and the effects of long-term breathing intervention. This work composed the main part of my PhD, which was completed in 2016. The study was awarded ‘The highest ranked abstract in the Stable IHD/Prevention/Hypertension/Lipids category’ at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) annual conference in 2015. From November 2014 to July 2019, I held academic positions at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham.