Professor Martin Cowie

Professor Martin Cowie is a consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital and professor of cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

He studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He then followed on to train in cardiology at the University College London (UCL) and Imperial College London. His specialist cardiology training took place at Middlesex Hospital and University College London.

Professor Martin Cowie specialises in adult cardiology, with an interest in heart failure and complex cardiac disease, frequently requested to give second opinions on relevant treatment options.

Many patients visit him for advice on appropriate drug therapy and the need for interventions such as pacemakers, defibrillators or surgery.

Professor Martin Cowie has interest in the research of:

• diagnosis of heart failure using blood tests and imaging
• implantable devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators
• new drug therapies for heart failure
• new devices for heart failure
• respiratory disease in patients with cardiac problems including sleep apnoea.

Professor Cowie has an interest in digital health, using technology to support more effective and efficient delivery of care including apps and wearables. He leads the European Society of Cardiology’s digital health workstream, on behalf of over 30,000 cardiologists across more than 50 countries.

He has developed a remote monitoring service at Royal Brompton Hospital, and continuously testing many new technologies in clinical trials.

Find out more about Professor Cowie’s research:

• Professor Cowie’s involvement in the Innovate-HF trial, where a stimulator transmits electrical signals to nerves in a patient’s neck to help make the heart function better.
• Watch Professor Cowie on Sky News discussing an implantable heart monitor that could reduce hospital admissions.

Professor Martin Cowie has published more than 300 scientific papers.

He has contributed to several book chapters and textbooks. His work has been cited in the scientific literature more than 70,000 times.

Additionally, he has been involved in research studies that have been published in journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, The British Medical Journal and the European Heart Journal.

Professor Martin Cowie has worked broadly with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on its work in atrial fibrillation and heart failure. In addition, he was a non-executive director for NICE from 2016 until 2020.

He has also helped to develop clinical guidelines and quality standards for the NHS and has also worked with medicines regulators in the UK, EU and USA.

Professor Cowie has helped set up and chaired the British Society for Heart Failure and was a board member of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. He has been involved in the global Optimize Heart Failure Care programme, which has led him to lecture around the world.