PhD Research Grants:

Thrombosis UK partnered with the British Society for Haemostasis & Thrombosis (BSHT) and the British Society for Haematology (BSH) to fund a PhD research programme which is hosted by a UK university.

Summary papers supported by the PhD Research Grants:

Maria Efthymiou - Activated protein C

Imperial College London – Supervised by Prof David Lane & Dr Jim Crawley

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Mary Underwood - ADAMTS13 and TTP

University College London – Supervised by Prof Sam Machin & Dr Ian Mackie

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Gael Morrow Thrombus composition, fibrinolysis and flow

University of Aberdeen – Supervised by Dr Nikki Mutch

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In 2021 Thrombosis UK was proud launch a, ‘Pilot Research Grant’ intended to support the development of UK-based pilot studies of well defined VTE patient populations and expected to generate valuable datasets that would support a future large scale research grant application.

Lead: Dr Colin McCabe

Use of GLP-1 agonist, Semaglutide, in the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism: a biomarker-driven proof of concept pilot randomised placebo-controlled phase 11 study.

Lead: Dr Kasia Mayger

Clinical, biochemical and molecular characterisation of patients with inherited antithrombin definiency

Dr Gael Morrow

Postdoctoral researcher in haemostasis

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford in the laboratory of Dr Nicola Curry at the Oxford Haemophilia & Thrombosis Centre. My current research interest focuses on fibrinolysis and coagulopathic bleeding during trauma.

Thrombosis UK have provided me with a travel grant to help attend the ISTH 2019 conference in Melbourne where I will give an oral presentation on my recent research. My abstract focuses on a family with unexplained bleeding, who were identified as having a rare coagulation defect caused by elevated soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) in the plasma. My research characterises the molecular mechanisms involved and evaluates different therapeutic strategies to best manage the rare bleeding disorder.

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Andrew Doyle

I am a Clinical Research Fellow based at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London in a specialist Thrombosis and Haemostasis Centre covering London and the greater area. My interests are in inherited and acquired thrombophilias. I am currently doing my MD Postgraduate Studies with King’s College London in coagulation changes with ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). This is a specialist machine for severe lung failure, used in a select number of intensive care units nationally including St Thomas’ Hospital. The machine despite being effective at life support in difficult situations is associated with high rates of bleeding and thrombosis.

I am also actively involved in caring for patients with Antiphospholipid syndrome and inherited thrombophilias, which we treat in specialist tertiary level clinics at our Centre. I also arrange and deliver teaching in the London area to improve thrombosis knowledge and care to Haematology trainees with the London Haemostasis Group and improving non-malignant Haematology research with HaemSTAR.

Thrombosis UK is kindly supporting me in attending the ISTH Congress 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. I will be presenting data on our experience in treatment options for Antithrombin deficiency as well as using the educational opportunities that attending such a conference has to offer.

Kiran Parmar

Research Laboratory Manager to Prof B J Hunt OBE, at the department of Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Group

I have worked with Prof Beverley Hunt OBE, for the past 22 years at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Thrombosis UK has kindly supported me to attend the ISTH Congress 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. Work that I helped analyse will be presented as a poster on: “The relationship between coagulant activity (FVIII levels and Thrombin Generation Assay) and structural evidence of joint disease in patients with mild to moderate haemophilia A.” I will also be able to get the opportunity to attend the conference sessions to update my knowledge in this fast changing and active field. , as well as using the educational opportunities that attending such a conference has to offer.

Our research into Thrombosis allows us to work and collaborate with many institutions, both nationally and internationally, covering commercial trials and biomarker analysis.

Sue Rhodes

VTE & Joint Anticoagulant Lead

Sue is a Nurse Lead at Great Western Hospital, Swindon.

Sue will be presenting findings at ISTH 2019 from a six year project which looked at different ways effectively implementing and carrying out audit across service providers. Developing guidelines. Sue’s leadership has been instrumental in ensuring patients under her team’s care receive the appropriate level of counseling and this is supported with close liaison with primary care for the on-going management.

With six years of follow-up/event data Sue is presenting an abstract to the ISTH in Melbourne outlining the findings.

Travel Research Grant

Chloe Harrison

PhD student in the Department of Psychology at Swansea University

Chloe’s research focuses on the psychological impact of venous thrombosis. examining the psychological impact of VTE in young women, predictors of health anxiety and PTSD following VTE, and most recently on the development of self-help psychological interventions for recent VTE patients.

Chloe will be attending the European Health Psychology Society conference in Dubrovnik in September 2019 where she will be presenting her work on ‘the psychological impact of VTE on young women; a focus on health anxiety and PTSD’

Travel Research Grant


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Jahnavi Daru

Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Jahnavi is in the final year of a PhD looking at maternal morbidity and mortality related to common haematological problems in pregnancy and the postpartum.

Jahnavi has been invited to attend the 8th International Symposium for Women’s Health Issues in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (WHITH) in Madrid to give an oral presentation of her work on a systematic review of venous thromboembolism in pregnancy.

Travel Research Grant

Dr Colin Evans

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Dr Colin Evans is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the laboratory of Professor Randall Johnson at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge.

His current research investigates mechanisms that regulate the strong positive association between cancer and venous thrombosis.

Dr Sian Sweetland

Statistical Epidemiologist

I am a Statistical Epidemiologist in the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford.

My current research investigates the relationship between cancer and venous thromboembolism using questionnaire data from a large UK cohort, the Million Women Study, linked to NHS hospital admissions records, cancer registrations and deaths.

PhD Research Grant

Gael Morrow

PhD Student

I am a 3rd Year PhD Student at the University of Aberdeen in Dr Nicola Mutch’s Lab.

My PhD project has focused on determining the role of platelets in fibrinolysis (the process of breaking down a blood clot). Our laboratory has found that proteins important in fibrinolysis and coagulation are retained on the surface of activated platelets in a protruding "cap".

Travel Research Grant

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