Dr Paul Morris staff webpage: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/medicine/people/iicd/paul-morris
Twitter: @drmorriscardio
@ShefUni_IICD
Coronary artery disease is the world’s leading cause of death and serious illness. It’s caused by a build-up of plaque - made up of fat, cholesterol and calcium - inside the coronary arteries which are like the heart’s fuel pipes. This type of disease causes angina, heart attacks and heart failure.
Dr Paul Morris is a cardiologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and a Wellcome Trust Fellow and Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on developing computer models of the cardiovascular system, specifically the coronary arteries. Using a medical imaging technique called coronary angiography, Dr Morris constructs a 3D computer model of the patient’s coronary arteries and applies complex mathematics - computational fluid dynamics (CFD) - to simulate the flow and pressure of blood inside the arteries. Using these methods, , Dr Morris and his colleagues can more accurately diagnose diseases such as coronary artery disease and microvascular disease - a disease that is very hard to detect using standard methods.
Dr Morris is working with medical physicist Dr David Randall to turn these 3D coronary artery models into a virtual reality experience. Dr Randall specialises in using virtual reality in medicine for medical training and public engagement. The virtual reality game they are developing together is called Run For Your Life! and takes the player on a race through arteries.
