UCL academic leads UK taskforce on cardiovascular disease prevention

John Deanfield - Professor John Deanfield (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science) is to lead a UK government taskforce to identify radical new approaches to prevent cardiovascular disease and reduce pressure on the NHS. Professor Deanfield has been appointed the first ever Government Champion for Personalised Prevention. He has been asked by Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to explore and expand the role of technology, and new approaches to communication, so that people can better look after their health and reduce the risk of future cardiovascular events. His taskforce will include expertise on health policy, health technology, behavioural science, big data, and health economics and will d'evelop a set of evidence-based recommendations for a modern, personalised cardiovascular disease prevention service. The team will explore a range of ideas, including the use of personalised data to better predict and prevent ill health, and look at how the latest health technology could be used to predict, prevent, diagnose and treat key risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other health conditions. Cardiovascular disease and its risk factors are major drivers of ill health, economic inactivity and premature death. It accounts for up to 250,000 hospital admissions and around 140,000 deaths in England each year and costs the NHS approximately £7.4 billion annually.