Professor Jill Belch
Chair of Vascular Medicine, Cardiology
Cardiovascular Research, School of Medicine
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Biography
Jill Belch is a Professor of Vascular Medicine at the University of Dundee, UK, where until January 2016 she was the Research Dean then Co-Dean of the Medical School. She was also NHS Tayside R&D Director for 10 years also to 2016. Further she established and became Co-Director of the Tayside Academic Health Partnership. She is a founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science and a Fellow and Council Member of the Royal Society, Edinburgh. She is currently Head of the Institute of Cardiovascular Research. Her research interests centre on cardiovascular disease with especial reference to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), evaluating biomarkers, inflammation, endothelial function and novel treatments. She also has a keen interest in the Microcirculation and is researching environmental issues such as the effects of air pollution on health. Professor Belch is Chair or former Chair of trial steering committees for 19 international multicentre clinical trials of new treatments for vascular disease, and she has authored over 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is Immediate Past President of the UK Section of Vascular Medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine and is currently President of the European Society of Vascular Medicine (ESVM), for whom she also chairs the ESVM Guidelines Committee. She was awarded an OBE in 2016 for Services to Medicine, and the Saltire Outstanding Women of the year in 2019.
Research
I have been involved for some time in research projects investigating vascular and rheumatic diseases and the therapeutic effects of various anti-rheumatic and anti-thrombotic agents. The focus has been on the mechanistic link between inflammation and vascular behaviour. The initial studies into laboratory biomarkers has been followed by medium and large sized clinical trials to validate the hypotheses, or otherwise, generated in the laboratory studies.
Assay systems have been established to measure inflammatory and vascular biomarkers, coagulation, haemorrheology and fibrinolysis. Areas of special interest have been developed, e.g. the inflammatory element of vascular disease with measures of WBC and free radical activity & the study of vascular endothelium. These techniques, combined with the ability to measure blood flow in both the macro- and microcirculation, have led to my publications in the field of vascular and inflammatory medicine.
This work in inflammation and disease has led to novel work on the health effects of air pollution, with data showing increased general hospital admissions on high pollution days, and specifically an increase in cardiovascular admissions. Our work in children has shown them to be more susceptible to even ‘legal’ limits of air pollution in terms of increasing hospital admissions. Currently a Europe wide study is being evaluated in terms of peripheral arterial disease and air quality, and recently a study of changes to air quality with the advent if the 4 Scottish Low Emission Zones has been begun.
The establishment of the Institute of Cardiovascular Research via the TICR public fund raising appeal. This has raised circa £6.5m for the University, achieved strategic placement for Cardiovascular as one of the College’s research themes, and allowed 3 senior academic posts to be created in this field, and the purchase of a state of the art MRI scanner.
Teaching
Teaching involves both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and covers areas including Peripheral Arterial Disease, Connective Tissue Disease and Governance of Clinical Trials. She is Co-Chair of the European Society of Vascular Medicine Guideline Committee, with 5 guidelines/consensus document published so far
Media availability
I am available for media commentary on my research.
Professor Belch’s research focusses on air pollution, vascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, and vascular risk factors such as Lipids and statins and the microcirculation (Raynauds). Recently she has studied air pollution extensively, exploring adult and child hospital admissions as a consequence of poor air quality. She has published around 500 scientific papers and has considerable media experience.
Contact Corporate Communications for media enquiries.
Areas of expertise
- Air pollution
- Vascular Disease
Stories
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- Press release
Professor Jill Belch named CBE in New Years Honours list
The University of Dundee's Professor Jill Belch, who has been named a CBE in the New Years Honours list.
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- Press release
MRI scans can identify cardiovascular disease ten years in advance, Dundee study reveals
People at risk of cardiovascular disease could be identified a decade before they have a heart attack or stroke, a breakthrough University of Dundee study has discovered.
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- Press release
Air pollution prompts spikes in child hospital admissions, study finds
Elevated levels of air pollution cause more children to be admitted to hospital with respiratory problems, a new study has found.