Dr Juma El-Awaisi

• PhD in Cardiovascular Sciences 2019 - 2022
• MSc in Advanced Pharmacology 2018 - 2019
• BSc in Clinical Pharmacy 2008 - 2013

Juma El-awaisi is a researcher and health care professional with vast experience in business and management. After completing his undergraduate degree at the age of 20, Juma took a different path and moved towards business and marketing, where he co-founded a technology startup.

Juma is an advocate for merging scientific research with technology

Working under the supervision of Dr Neena Kalia, Dr El-Awaisi’s research is focused on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Following myocardial infarction (MI), diabetic and elderly patients have a poorer prognosis, which may be linked to increased coronary microvessel susceptibility to injury. Interleukin-36 (IL-36), a newly discovered proinflammatory member of the IL-1 superfamily, may mediate this injury, but its role in the injured heart is currently not known. Therefore, our research focuses on investigating the role of IL-36, age, and diabetes in myocardial IRI using intravital microscopy and laser speckle contrast imaging.

Using intravital microscopy in a beating heart environment, we are able to directly observe thromboinflammatory events within myocardial microvessels, particularly the trafficking, adhesion kinetics (rolling / adhesion / transmigration) and cross-talk between leukocytes and platelets with each other and vascular endothelium. We are combining this method with laser speckle contrast imaging of the beating heart to quantitate overall organ perfusion and correlate these events with those taking place at the microvascular level.

Research Groups and Centres

Microcirculation Research Group

British microcirculation and vascular biology society committee member: 2020 – 2023