Biography

Dr Ranil de Silva is a consultant interventional cardiologist and leads the specialist angina service at the Royal Brompton Hospital, where he treats private and NHS patients. 

In 1995, he graduated with honours from King’s College London with a degree in medicine. Following that he completed his training in general medicine, general cardiology and interventional cardiology at Royal Brompton, Chelsea and Westminster, Hammersmith, and St Mary’s hospitals in London. 

He conducted his PhD research at the Medical Research Council Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London, and at the Research Institute for Brain and Blood Vessels in Akita, Japan. 

In addition, he has also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the USA with the Cardiovascular Interventional Programme, at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 

Clinical expertise

Dr Ranil de Silva regularly manages patients with coronary artery disease. His patients include those who have: 

  • angina and tightening or heaviness in the chest, which can go up to the throat or jaw when walking 

  • had a heart attack 

  • coronary disease which has led to impaired pump function of the heart and heart failure

As a consultant interventional cardiologist, Dr de Silva has clinical expertise in: 

Dr Ranil De Silva carries out a range of procedures, including: 

  • coronary angioplasty (stenting, chronic total occlusion) 

  • intracoronary imaging

  • optical coherence tomography (OCT) 

  • intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) 

  • near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) 

  • coronary physiology (pressure, flow wires), coronary microvascular dysfunction and vasospasm testing 

  • coronary sinus reducer to treat refractory angina 

  • renal denervation to treat resistant hypertension. 

In addition to his role as a consultant interventional cardiologist, he is also the clinical lead for the specialist angina service and the research lead for coronary disease. 

Research interests

Dr Ranil de Silva is a lead clinical investigator at the Trust and a PI in the vascular sciences section of NHLI, Imperial College London. 

His clinical and research interests focus on the pathophysiology, investigation, risk stratification and treatment of complex stable coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndromes. 

In particular, his research areas include: 

  • refractory angina 

  • coronary microvascular dysfunction 

  • coronary plaque biomechanics 

  • novel cardiac magnetic resonance imaging techniques for the study of adverse left ventricular remodelling.

He has received grant funding from the British Heart Foundation, Medical Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. 

He has been an associate board member for the NIHR EME program as well as a member of the MRC DPFS Panel. 

Publications

He has more than 140 publications including in top-ranked journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation and European Heart Journal. 

Teaching

Dr Ranil de Silva is a senior lecturer in clinical cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. He has supervised 10 higher degrees, has active PhD students, teaches undergraduate medical students at Imperial, and provides supervision to clinical trainees.