Lancaster Medical School graduate Dr Daniel Taylor has won a prestigious award to recognise excellence among young researchers intending to pursue a career in cardiovascular clinical medicine or research.

The BCS/BHF/BAS/BSCR Young Investigator Prize is jointly awarded by the British Cardiovascular Society, British Heart Foundation, British Atherosclerosis Society and British Society for Cardiovascular Research and is the premier UK award for anybody under 40 years old involved in cardiovascular research.

Dr Taylor graduated from Lancaster Medical School in 2021, where he was ranked top of his class and awarded the Medical School Academic Prize and Lancaster University Chancellor’s Medal, which is presented to students showing exceptional merit in their field.

He completed the first stage of his postgraduate clinical training as a research-focused specialised foundation doctor at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. He is currently working as a Sheffield BRC Academic Clinical Fellow at the University of Sheffield.

Dr Taylor said: “It’s a real honour to receive the BCS Young Investigator Prize. Recognition like this helps highlight the importance of research into microvascular disease, which would not have been possible without the support and collaboration I've had from my mentors, peers, and the wider community.”

His winning entry involved a series of studies outlining the development, optimisation and application of a computational model for quantifying coronary microvascular resistance (MVR).

These included the development of a method for including side branches in simulations, followed by model optimisation, validation and a meta-analysis which quantified the relationship between flow and diameter in bifurcating coronary arteries.

The computer model was then used retrospectively to compute MVR in patients recruited to the ORBITA trial, which was a placebo controlled trial of PCI (stents) performed for relief of angina, which found PCI did not significantly improve symptoms any more than a placebo procedure.

In his sub-analysis of the trial, patients with low model predicted MVR derived a significant improvement in exercise time with PCI versus placebo. Low MVR also predicted a significant benefit of PCI for complete freedom from angina, reduced angina frequency and improved stress echocardiography score.

These results suggest that for patients with severe single vessel coronary artery disease, already treated with optimal medical therapy, microvascular disease may attenuate the functional and symptomatic benefits of PCI.