About Me

I was appointed as Consultant Cardiologist at Barts Heart Centre in 2014,with honorary appointments at UCL and QMUL. Clinically, I specialise Cardiac Electrophysiology, and am an expert in interventional arrhythmia management, including catheter ablation and cardiac implantable devices. I put my patients first, and care deeply that they have access to the best care and decisions available. I believe that our job as physicians is to provide management to make our patients either feel better, or live longer, or both, and to be honest and open at all times. My specific academic foci are medical device innovations, including testing and software design towards early translation to clinical use. I have a developing international profile as an innovator and inventor particularly in Cardiovascular devices.

It was my Wellcome Trust PhD Fellowship Award that allowed me an unparalleled opportunity to pursue highly innovative and self- directed projects, and developed a clear research vision for engineering innovation to benefit minimally invasive procedures. My PhD led to a series of major publications (EuropeanHeartJournal, PLoSONE, HeartRhythm).

My invention of Optical Ultrasound has led to a series of patents and high profile publications, in collaboration with UCL engineering, and I hold an honorary Senior Lecturer position in the department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering. This lead to the founding of Echopoint Medical Ltd, I am a director and Chief Medical Officer of this startup company and raised >£2.8M in seed round funding, which has been substantially augmented by grant awards. This medtech startup is developing a coronary rapid-exchange flow and pressure (FFR/CFR) sensing microcatheter that will be brought to patient benefit via early studies at Barts Heart Centre.

 

I have received QMS training and worked under ISO13485 & 9001 QMS.

Leading from my research work into patterns of electrophysiological activation and electrogram interpretation, I was an inventor of STAR Mapping™. This method for interpreting electrograms has generated a series of published patents which have been licensed by Rhythm AI Ltd. I raised £2.3M in equity capital for this startup in a competitive series A round, and hold a Non-Executive Director and Advisor position.
I co-founded and invented Epicardio Ltd, (real-time, web-delivered whole heart electrophysiological simulation; licenses including Oxford University, Cleveland Clinic, St Jude Medical, Schiller GmBH, Boston Scientific).
I was a member of the EHRA Innovation Committee, and am a member of the EHRA Scientific Initiatives Committee, aiming to promote Innovation across European Cardiac Electrophysiology. I am a member of the EHRA Examination Standard Settings Committee, and take responsibility for setting and delivery of the EHRA subspeciality examinations in Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices for both Physicians and Allied Professionals. I am a faculty member for several National and International Meetings, and am Abstract Chair for Heart Rhythm Congress UK.

Innovation has been at the core of my clinical practice: I wrote Oxford University’s first Paediatric Departmental website, described the first case of clinical diagnosis made from a phonocardiogram acquired by a mobile phone (Finlay et al. 2006), led the first clinical trial comparing cardiac electrophysiology navigation systems with image integration (CAVERN Trial, Finlay et al. 2011), and described a novel hybrid surgical technique for complex device implantation (Finlay et al. 2015).

In my clinical work, I have a particular interest in improving patient safety through procedural standardisation and innovation. I led the introduction of standardised waiting list requests at Barts, which has helped lead to a halving of waiting times for complex ablation procedures. I developed day-case AF ablation procedures with Prof Richard Schilling, allowing these previously complex operations to be performed routinely in 1 hour or less with high success rates and low complications. This has been transferred to the Barts IR cath lab successfully and the lab is gearing up ablation services. I led the development of standardized clinical protocols at the Nightingale Hospital London, these have been published and distributed by HEE/NHS England, and my Quick Reference Guides have been incorporated into the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors COVID-19 Bedside Guides.

I wrote and directed a Super-8 film (using extensive optical in-camera effects) that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival (“TheLastTrip”,Straight8,2008). A re-scan of this film was featured in the London Short Film Festival, screened at festivals in New York, Berlin, Paris, Prague and others and is preserved in the British Film Institute archives. I hold a Private Pilots License (Aeroplanes). I play piano, bass guitar and double bass, enjoy sports and I have two sons.