Professor Cowie has been a key part of Royal Brompton Hospital’s heart failure service for more than 20 years. He is passionate about ensuring all patients and their families gain access to world-class care, including a rapid and accurate diagnosis and the many different types of treatment that can improve quality and length of life. 

Professor Cowie has been awarded the British Cardiovascular Society Medal and the Thomas Lewis Medal, the society’s highest honour.

Research interests

Professor Cowie's research interests focus on health technology assessment and delivery of efficient and effective care for patients with heart failure, with a focus on diagnostics, drugs, and devices. He has had a longstanding interest in evaluating remote monitoring and other digital technologies in heart failure. He was professor of cardiology at Imperial College for 20 years, but moved to be professor at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine & Science’s at King’s College London in 2021.

Professor Cowie particularly enjoys speaking to members of the public about cardiovascular health issues, and has spoken at the Cambridge Science Festival, The Wellcome Foundation, The Dana Foundation, and most recently delivered a TEDx talk on “Beating the World’s Biggest Killer”, which you can view here. He has spoken at many scientific meetings all around the world – and enjoys interacting with any audience.

Partnerships and charity involvement

Professor Cowie is closely involved with two patient charities – the Atrial Fibrillation Association and Pumping Marvellous (the heart failure charity). He firmly believes that the best results come from partnerships between those living with heart failure on a daily basis and their healthcare advisors. 

Changing health policy is vital to improving the outcome for people with heart failure, and Professor Cowie has been instrumental in various national and international initiatives, including the Health Policy Network, the British Heart Failure Alliance and the Global Heart Failure Awareness Programme. He was a non-executive director of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellent (NICE) from 2016 to 2020.

International reputation

It is essential that the professional voice is heard and that resources are made available for clinical and research work in heart failure. Professor Cowie helped set up and chaired the British Society for Heart Failure, was a board member of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology and has been involved in the global Optimize Heart Failure programme, which has seen him lecture across the world. 

Publications

Professor Cowie, who studied medicine at Aberdeen University and trained in cardiology at University College and Imperial College London, has published more than 350 scientific papers. He has also contributed to a number of book chapters and textbooks, and his work has been cited in the scientific literature more than 80,000 times. He has been involved in research studies that have been published in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, British Medical Journal and European Heart Journal.

For a complete list of publications by Professor Cowie, please click here.

Private patient referral

If you would like to make an appointment with this specialist for private care, contact the RB&HH specialist care team.