Dr Pankaj K Bhavsar

Pankaj Bhavsar is a Research Lecturer at the National Heart and Lung Institute where his research focuses on the mechanisms underlying relative steroid insensitivity in severe asthma and Chornic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). He also holds an honorary research position at the Royal Brompton Hospital enabling him to translate basic research activities into the clinical environment.

Dr Bhavsar is an accomplished researcher with publications in leading basic science and clinical journals. He also has a track record in attracting funding both independently and in collaboration with others: his current research is funded by Industrial collaborators (GlaxoSmithKline, UK), The Medical Research Council and Asthma UK. Dr Bhavsar supervises a number of graduate students and contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. He is also a member the Medical Research Council/Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

Dr Bhavsar was awarded his PhD from the University of London (NHLI) in 1995, studying the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac-specific gene regulation, under the supervision of  Drs Paul Barton and Nigel Brand in the department of Cardiothoracic Surgery headed by Professor  Sir Magdi Yacoub FRS. Dr Bhavsar became  a  Principal Investigator 18 months into his post-doctoral career with the award of a project grant from The British Heart Foundation.  In 2001 Dr Bhavsar was promoted to Research Lecturer and worked on the ‘bridge to recovery’ programme, designed by Prof. Yacoub, seeking alternative surgical treatments for end-stage heart failure.  At the end of 2002 Dr Bhavsar was recruited by Professor Fan Chung, Thoracic Medicine, NHLI, to undertake research on the effects of corticosteroids on inflammatory mediators in severe asthma. 

In addition to his academic work, Dr Bhavsar is also a reviewer for major funding bodies and international basic science and clinical journals.