Professor Paul A White

Professor White is a Consultant Clinical Scientist and Head of Clinical Engineering at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is responsible for medical technology, equipment strategy, research and innovation. He has an international reputation in cardiovascular research in the area of ventricular dynamics and energetic.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul_White25r.

Background

In 1994 he was awarded an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Surrey and a PhD and DIC through Imperial College London in 1998. His research interests have specialised in physiological measurement of the cardiovascular system. It is in the area of ventricular dynamics and energetics, that he has made a significant contribution, both nationally and internationally. He was awarded the Spiers Prize, of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) in 1997, and the Founders prize in 2002 for his outstanding contribution to Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering, and was awarded an IPEM and Royal College of Physicians Essay Prize in 2006 for his work developing a novel technique to measure heart function immediately after a non surgical closure of an atrial septal defect. In 2010 he was awarded an East of England Senior Clinical Academic Fellowship. In 2017 he was awarded the Department of Health Chief Scientific Officers Health Care Scientist of the Year Award for leadership, innovation and research, and runner up in the Lord Carter innovation awards.

He has written numerous peer reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters. He lectures nationally and internationally and has worked in Europe, Canada and Australia. He has also supervised and guided many students with MSc, PhD, and MD projects or attachments as part of their recognised training programmes. He has actively developed collaborative academic and industrial links with companies both in the United Kingdom and abroad. He actively reviews papers on Clinical Engineering and Physiological  Measurement for a number of peer reviewed journals. In 2007 he sat on the editorial board for the journal “Physiological Measurement”.  He was part of the curriculum development group for the Scientist Training Programme under Modernising Scientific Careers, and has also sat on the Higher Specialist Scientific Training Curriculum development board for Clinical Biomedical Engineering on behalf of the Royal College of Surgeons and Royal College of Practioners. He has held a number of positions in the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM). He was secretary for the physiological measurement special interest group, chaired its accreditation and training panel, became the first director of the Professional Standards Board and was Vice President for Professional Issues chairing its Professional Advisory Group. He was a trustee, and Vice president for Industry and chaired its Industrial Advisory group. He is currently on the affiliated faculty of Cambridge Digital Innovation (CDI) and sits on Cambridge University Health Partners Expert Innovation Panel, Addenbrookes Charitable Trust Professional Advisory panel, and Addenbrookes Charitable Trust Innovation Panel. He has recently been invited to sit on the Chief scientific Officers Leadership, Improvement and Advice (LIA) Group.

Research interests

• Assessment of left and right ventricular function from pressure volume loops in various  patient cohorts to optimise treatment outcome.
• Assessment of ventricular function during trans- aortic valve implantation (TAVI) to optimise delivery and improve patient outcome.
• Viability of using deceased circulatory and borderline donor hearts as a source for cardiac transplantation to increase donor numbers.
• To assess mechanism of diastolic dysfunction to determine whether it is flow mediated or due to a ventriculo-arterial mismatch.
• Development of ischaemic preconditiong strategies to protect the heart from ischaemia / reperfusion injury.
• Use of right ventricular conductance catheter guidance to optimise balloon pulmonary angioplasty as a non surgical treatment of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
• Detemine whether cold storage causes no degradation on ventricular function compared with normothermic regional perfusion in deceased circulatory donors.
• Use of Wave Intensity analysis tools which are able to distinguish simultaneous proximal and distal influences on coronary blood flow and is used to study coronary haemodynamics.
• Development of RFID technologies to enhance medical device utilisation, efficiency and productivity in health and care.
• Development of novel medical technologies.

Areas of research supervision

• Studies involving the assessment of ventricular dynamics, energetics and wave intensity  in cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, and transplantation.
• Research in the area of novel Clinical Measurement.
• Development and assessment of novel medical technologies.
• PhD – Richard Axell –
• MD (Res) - Stuart Tan
• PhD – Ghufran Khallid – External / 3rd Specialist Supervisor

Teaching

• Develop a suite of student selective components (SSC) in medical technology.

Qualifications

• MSc in Biomedical Engineering , University of Surrey
• PhD, Imperial college, London
• DIC, Imperial College, London
• CSci, Chartered Scientist, The Science Council
• FIPEM, Fellowship of the institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.

Memberships, editorial boards

• Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.
• Member of the Editorial Board for “Physiological Measurement”.
• Member of the International Advisory Board  for “Physiological Measurement”
• Reviewer for Physiological Measurement, American Journal of Physiology (Heart and Circulation Research), Cardiovascular Research and Heart and Vessels.  

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Provide expert advice and sit on  Cambridge University Health Partners Expert Innovation Panel, Addenbrookes Charitable Trust Professional Advisory panel, and Addenbrookes Charitable Trust Innovation Panel.
• A number of substantial British Heart Foundation and Garfield Weston Research Fund grants have been awarded to our research group before 1999. However these are on a multiple applicant basis. Recent research grants include:
• 2017, JP Moulton – Co- applicant with Dr Stephen Hoole - Use of right ventricular conductance catheter guidance to optimise balloon pulmonary angioplasty as a non-surgical treatment of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension -- £115,000
• 2013, NIHR Chief Scientific Officer PhD Fellowship - Richard Axell (£196,099)
• 2012, IPEM Innovation Award - £10,000
• 2010, East of England Senior Clinical Academic Fellowship (Apr 2010- Mar 2013) - £46,500
• 2006, British Cardiac Society – Salary for MD student to study non-heart beating heart donation - £70,000 - Coapplicant with Mr Stephen Large and Mr Ayyaz Ali
• 2005, Evelyn Trust – Resuscitation of Hearts From NHBD -£83,000 -  Coapplicant with Mr Stephen Large
• 2000, Garfield-Weston – (Mar 2000 – Mar 2002) Salary for Dr Satchithananda for Pressure volume loop studies of the human donor heart (£45,000)-  Coapplicant with Professor Andrew Redington, and Mr Stephen Large
• 1999, British Heart Foundation – 2 tears funding (Dec 1999 – Dec 2001) Pressure volume loop studies of the human donor heart (£135,000) -  Coapplicant with Professor Andrew Redington
• 1999, Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children Heart Test Fund ( £515.00 and (£450.00))
• 1997, Royal Brompton Hospital Bursary Award (£1500 and £940.00)

Current

• Member of the NHS England Chief Scientific Officer’s Leadership, Innovation and Advice Group ( LIA)
• Chair Scientific Programme Committee for MPEC 2018 - Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Member of Prizes and Awards Committee - Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)

Previous – Institute of Physics and Engineering In Medicine (IPEM)

• Trustee – Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine
• Vice President Industrial – Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Chair of Industrial Advisory Group – Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Vice President for Professional Issues - Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Chairman of Professional Advisory Group – Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Director of the Professional Standards Board (PSB) – Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM).
• Chairman of the Accreditation and Training Panel (ATC) - Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Council Representative on the Accreditation and Training Panel (ATC) - Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)            
• Council Member of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
• Secretary of the Physiological Measurement Special Interest Group
• Member of the Physiological Measurement Special Interest Group

Previous - Others

• Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST) Curriculum Development Group For Biomedical Clinical Engineering
• DH Clinical Engineering Curriculum Development Group, Modernising Scientific Careers
• Member of the Eastern Anglian Clinical Physics and Engineering Development Group.
• Member of the Ventricular Assist Development Group
• Member of the Department of Health National Occupational Standards Working Party for Critical Care Science and Technology
• Chairman of the IPEM / NHS Cardiovascular Advisory Group
• Member of the NHS Modernisation Agency for Critical Care Working Party

Selected recent publications

Effective Arterial Elastance Detects Occult RV Dysfunction in Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Vascular Disease. Axell RG, Messer SJ, White PA, McCabe C, Statopoulou T, Drozdzynska M, Viscasillas, J, Hinchy EC, Hampton-Till J, Alibhai HI, Morrell N, Pepke-Zaba J, Large SR, Hoole SP. Physiol. Rep. 5 (7), 2017, e13227,doi: 10.14814/phy2.13227

Stunning and Right Ventricular Dysfunction Is Induced by Coronary Balloon Occlusion and Rapid Pacing in Humans: Insights From Right Ventricular Conductance Catheter Studies. Axell RG, Giblett JP, White PA, Klein A, Hampton-Til J, O'Sullivan M, Braganza D, Davies WR, West NEJ, Densem CG, Hoole SP. J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;6:e005820. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.117.005820.

Rapid Pacing Induced Right Ventricular Dysfunction is Evident after Balloon Expandable Trans-femoral Aortic Valve Replacement. Axell RG, White PA, Giblett JP, Williams L, Rana BS, Klein A, Hampton-Till J, O’Sullivan M, Davies WR, Densem CG, Hoole SP. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 Feb 21;69(7):903-904

Functional assessment and transplantation of the donor heart after circulatory death. Messer SJ, Axell RG, Colah S, White PA, Ryan M, Page AA, Parizkova B, Valchanov K, White CW, Freed DH, Ashley E, Dunning J, Goddard M, Parameshwar J, Watson CJ, Krieg T, Ali A, Tsui S, Large SR. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2016 Dec;35(12):1443-1452

The diastolic backwards-travelling decompression (suction) wave correlates with simultaneously acquired indices of diastolic function and is reduced in left ventricular stunning. Ladwiniec A, White PA, Nijjer SS, O’Sullivan M, West NEJ, Davies JE, Hoole SP.Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2016 Sep;9(9).

Glucagon-like peptide-1 derived cardioprotection does not utilize a KATP-channel dependent pathway: mechanistic insights from human supply and demand ischemia studies Giblett JP, Axell RG, White PA, Clarke SJ, McCormick L, Read PA, Reinhold J, Brown AJ, O’Sullivan M, West NEJ, Dutka DP, Hoole SP Cardiovasc Diabet. 2016 15:99

Ventricular SW – Ea relationship can detect RV dysfunction in CTED. Axell RG, Messer S, White PA, McCabe C, Cannon J, Large SR, Pepke – Zaba J, Hoole SJ. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2016 (Apr) 67(13):2058 

Conductance catheter derived right ventricular diastolic dysfunction is evident after rapid pacing test capture prior to transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Axell RG, White PA, Rana BS, Klein A, O’Sullivan M, Shapiro L, Densem CG, Hoole S.  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2016 (Apr)  67(13):119 · 

Pre-treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 protects against ischemic left ventricular dysfunction and stunning without a detected difference in myocardial substrate utilization. McCormick LM, Hoole SP, White PA, Read PA, Axell RG, Clarke SJ, O’Sullivan M, West NEJ, Dutka DP. JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions 2015; 8(2): 292-301.

RV diastolic dysfunction: time to re-evaluate its importance in heart failure. Axell, RG, Hoole SP, Hampton-Till J, White PA. Heart failure reviews 2015: 1-11.

Books

Clinical Engineering: A Handbook for Clinical and Biomedical Engineers. (Eds) Taktak AFG, Ganney P, Long D, White PA 2013 Academic Press.

Book Chapters

Pressure and Flow. White PA, Axell RG. In: Clinical Engineering: A Handbook for Clinical and Biomedical Engineers. (Eds) Taktak AFG, Ganney P, Long D, White PA 2013 Academic Press.

Respiratory. Tunicliffe E, White PA. In: Clinical Engineering: A Handbook for Clinical and Biomedical Engineers. (Eds) Taktak AFG, Ganney P, Long D, White PA 2013 Academic Press.

Haemodynamic Monitoring - General Principles. White PA, Klein A. In: Core Topics in Cardiothoracic Critical Care. (Eds) Klein A, Vuylsteke A, Nashef S. 2007 Cambridge University Press.

Ventricular Performance. White PA, Arrowsmith JE. In: Core Topics in Cardiac Anaesthesia. (Eds) Mackay JH, Arrowsmith JE.  2004 Greenwich Medical Media Limited.

Recent presentations and conferences

Professor White has been an invited speaker at many conferences both in the UK, Europe ,and USA and has given talks around all aspects of Clinical Engineering and Clinical Measurement.