The awards scheme
The prestigious Wellcome Career Development Awards Scheme provides funding for mid-career researchers from any discipline who have the potential to be international research leaders.
These eight-year awards are intended to help scientists develop their research capabilities, drive innovative programmes of work and deliver significant shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing.
Betty Raman's research
Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine Betty Raman and her team are working to identify innovative, highly sensitive measures of disease activity in people with a genetic predisposition to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This is a disease in which the heart muscle becomes thickened, making it harder for the heart to pump blood.
HCM is a major cause of sudden cardiac death among young individuals and athletes. Genetic testing now enables the identification of individuals carrying the gene mutations responsible for HCM. But not everyone with HCM genes will experience disease progression, and predicting long-term complications remains complex.
Betty's research aims to refine the prediction of disease progression. This is important, because ground-breaking therapies are being developed to treat genetic heart conditions. Her research will help clinicians to discern which patients are likely to experience disease progression and who might benefit from these innovative, disease-specific treatments.
Betty says: 'I'm particularly proud to be a Wellcome-funded Fellow, as Wellcome are committed to improving research culture and representation in institutions. This opportunity simply would not have been possible without some crucial support from the Oxford BHF CRE during my post-doctoral years, for which I’m extremely grateful.’