DrKoralia Paschalaki

Koralia Paschalaki is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow and Principal Investigator within Vascular Science at the National Heart and Lung Institute, and Honorary Consultant physician at Royal Brompton Hospital.

Dr Paschalaki qualified in Medicine from the University of Crete (Greece) and then completed specialist medical training in Respiratory Medicine in Athens. She was awarded a fellowship from Hellenic Thoracic Society in 2008 and joined Professor Peter Barnes’ group (Airway Disease) and Professor Anna Randi’s group (Vascular Science) to study endothelial progenitor dysfunction in patients with COPD as part of her PhD project.

Dr Paschalaki has a particular interest in the molecular mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction and vascular disease, since cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in patients with chronic lung disease including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). She has developed her own scientific niche, focussing on the molecular pathways on DNA damage and senescence as contributors to vascular ageing and cardiovascular disease in chronic lung disorders. Using endothelial progenitors named endothelial colony forming cells (ECFC) or blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOEC), she has provided the first evidence of accelerated endothelial ageing and epigenetic dysfunction in smokers and patients with COPD, giving novel insight into the development of cardiovascular disease in these groups. Her aim is to further investigate the mechanisms of endothelial progenitors’ dysfunction and vascular ageing as contributors to atherosclerosis, and identify possible pharmacological treatments to target cardiovascular disease.