Dr Carol Whelan MBChB, MRCP, MD
Specialty: Cardiology and General Medicine
Sub-Specialty: Heart failure including Cardiac Amyloid, Cardiac Imaging
NHS Hospital Position:
Consultant Cardiologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Royal Free Hospital, Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
Clinical Interests:
Dr Whelan assesses patients for possible coronary artery disease, heart failure or valvular heart disease. She is particularly interested in echocardiography including stress echocardiography and transoesophageal echocardiography. She has a special interest in cardiac amyloidosis and her work includes the screening and follow up of patients for this condition at the National Amyloidosis Centre based at the Royal Free Hospital.
Education and Training:
Dr Whelan graduated from St Andrews University with a Bsc in Medical Science in 1991 and then from Manchester University with MBChB in 1994. After a SHO rotation in general medicine, she was awarded the MRCP in 2000. Following this, she undertook a period of organised research training for 3 years at Glasgow University obtaining a MD degree. She was then appointed to the North West Thames Specialist Registrar training scheme in London in cardiology and general medicine. During this time, she was competitively appointed as Senior Fellow in heart failure and echocardiography at St. Mary’s Hospital.
Consultant Appointment:
Dr Whelan was appointed as Consultant Cardiologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Royal Free Hospital with an interest in imaging, heart failure and cardiomyopathies including amyloid in November 2009.
Research:
Dr Whelan’s research interests broadly include heart failure and imaging. Current research is focussed on early detection and monitoring of patients with cardiac amyloidosis, a rare disorder caused by deposits of amyloid protein in the heart, resulting in decreased heart function.
Other research has been dedicated to indicators of prognosis in heart failure such as NT-pro BNP compared with other novel hormones such as relaxin. These findings have been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at both national and international meetings.
Dr Whelan is the clinical lead in cardiology for undergraduate training at the Royal Free Hospital.
National Roles:
Dr Whelan represents the Royal Free Hospital in the Task Group in Heart Failure for the North Central London Cardiac and Stroke Network.