Dr Brian Halliday, consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital, has been awarded the 2022 Young Author Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology, in recognition of outstanding research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC): Heart Failure.
The Young Author Achievement Awards are awarded to researchers who have completed specialist training within the last five years. JACC: Heart Failure is one of six sister journals published by the JACC. Editorial boards for each JACC sister journal nominate winners chosen from research submitted in the prior year.
Dr Halliday received this award for his study “Heart Rate as a Marker of Relapse During Withdrawal of Therapy in Recovered Dilated Cardiomyopathy.” 
A common cause of heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a heart condition where the left ventricle of the heart becomes dilated (stretched and thin), which makes it harder to pump blood around the body.
Dr Halliday’s study, published in July 2021, looked to determine the relationship between heart rate and relapse among patients in the TRED-HF trial (therapy withdrawal in REcovered Dilated cardiomyopathy trial), a randomized trial which examined the safety and feasibility of withdrawing heart failure therapy from 51 patients with recovered DCM over six months.
The study looked at whether it was possible to predict which patients would relapse based on the different changes they experienced when they came off their medication. The study found that when patients had their medication withdrawn, their heart rate increased and so Dr Halliday interrogated whether an increase in a patient’s heart rate was able to predict the likelihood of reduced cardiac function, and therefore relapse, over the subsequent weeks and months. The paper concluded that, for patients with DCM, a rise in heart rate after withdrawing from heart failure therapy can identify whether they are more likely to relapse.
Professor Sanjay K. Prasad, consultant in cardiology and cardiovascular magnetic resonance at Royal Brompton Hospital was Dr Halliday’s nominated mentor for the paper. Dr Halliday said: “It is an honour to receive this award from JACC Heart Failure. The journal publishes lots of super research, so we were delighted to be recognized. It’s a real team effort that has included many wonderful colleagues over the years. A big thank you to my academic mentors, particularly Professor Prasad who has dedicated so much of his time to over the years to support me.” Dr Halliday will be presented with the award this month (April).