Professor Riyaz Patel

Riyaz Patel is a tenured Professor of Cardiology at University College London and a Consultant Cardiologist at Barts Health and UCLH NHS Trusts. He is one of very few UK cardiologists working substantively in preventive cardiology, lipid management and cardiac CT and founded the cardiovascular prevention and lipids services at the Barts Heart Centre in London.

He sees people with coronary heart disease looking to optimise their treatment, but also those who are well but concerned about their heart — especially those with a family history of early heart attacks — and those whose cholesterol has proved difficult to treat, including statin intolerance, very high LDL cholesterol, raised lipoprotein(a) and familial hypercholesterolaemia. Assessment combines clinical and family history with advanced lipid testing, coronary calcium scoring or CT coronary angiography if indicated and, where appropriate, genetic testing.

Treatment covers every modifiable risk factor — cholesterol, blood pressure, weight and metabolic health — and using the full range of modern risk and lipid-lowering therapies. Where an inherited condition is found, screening can be arranged for other family members.

Professor Patel is unique among peers in having both research and clinical expertise in coronary heart disease genetics, offering for example polygenic (genetic) risk assessment, and authored the European Society of Cardiology consensus statement on the subject. He founded GENIUS-CHD, an international consortium of 60 studies examining why some patients with heart disease have further heart attacks despite treatment and is a UK lead for and an author on the first published trial of gene editing to lower cholesterol and heart attack risk (New England Journal of Medicine, 2026).

He is a key figure nationally and internationally in preventive cardiology. He was senior topic advisor to NICE for its 2023 guideline on cardiovascular risk and lipid modification – which is cited internationally - and UK reviewer for the European Society of Cardiology guidelines on dyslipidaemias (2019) and cardiovascular prevention (2021). He sits on the British Cardiovascular Society Guidelines and Practice Committee, directs the UCL Centre for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, and leads cardiovascular prevention strategy for the NHS North London Cardiology Operational Delivery Network. Alongside prevention he manages all general cardiology problems including chest pain, breathlessness and palpitations with over 25 years of clinical experience.

Professor Riyaz Patel offers a range of treatments, including:

• comprehensive cardiovascular risk assessment

• coronary calcium scoring and CT coronary angiography

• advanced lipid and cholesterol testing, including lipoprotein(a) and apolipoprotein B

• polygenic (genetic) risk assessment

• genetic testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia, and family cascade screening

• management of statin intolerance

• injectable lipid-lowering therapies

• blood pressure, weight and metabolic risk management

• exercise and dobutamine stress echocardiography

• second opinions on cardiovascular risk and coronary disease management

Some of the most common conditions he treats are:

• high cholesterol, including cholesterol that has been difficult to treat

• statin intolerance

• familial hypercholesterolaemia

• raised lipoprotein(a)

• family history of heart attacks at a young age

• premature (early-onset) heart attacks and their causes

• high or unexplained cardiovascular risk

• an abnormal cholesterol result or calcium score found on a health check

• heart attacks and prevention of further events

• raised blood pressure

• chest pain

• breathlessness

• palpitations

• dizziness and blackouts

• valve disease