Congenital heart surgery is one of the most complex and scrutinised surgical specialties in the world which makes the development of research programmes extremely challenging. Professor Caputo’s team in Bristol has been a unique example of how to build a successful clinical translational research portfolio in congenital heart surgery.  The UK’s largest congenital academic cardiac surgery unit, comprising internationally renowned teams developing innovative surgical procedures and new health technologies, and providing an evidence base to improve short-term complications and long-term outcomes in paediatric and adult congenital patients, has been established with the support of the BHF, NIHR, MRC and Sir Jules Thorn Biomedical Research Award.

The main objective of Caputo’s chair team is to turn innovations into benefits for paediatric and adult congenital patients and the health system. This is achieved by creating an environment where clinicians, basic scientists, clinical research methodologists and patients’ groups can interact and thrive and attract talented individuals to produce world-leading research. Patient involvement and public engagement remain at the core of our vision. Our team has strong commitment to and track record of excellent work in PPIE, including engaging patients and their families from framing research questions to disseminating research findings at public events. 

The main objective of Caputo’s research is the development and testing of new surgical strategies in congenital and structural heart disease (CSHD). In the last 5 years, our core group of academic surgeons and clinicians, working together with basic scientists and trialists have conducted several studies recruited more than 2,000 patients.to improve early and long-term clinical outcomes in neonates, infants, children, and adults with CSHD. In addition, the team has consistently maintained some of the best patient’s outcomes in the National Congenital Heart Disease Audit (NCHDA).   

 In addition, his team has significantly expanded the use of large electronic health data and explored data linkage opportunities for observational studies in congenital and structural heart disease under the leadership of Prof Stoica (deputy congenital domain lead at NICOR and deputy congenital audit lead at SCTS) and Benedetto (deputy audit lead for adult cardiac surgery at SCTS) and Dr Sinha (ST7 trainee in cardio-thoracic surgery). At the same time, he has developed via the BHF Accelerator Award, a close collaboration with Prof Lawlor, exploring relationships between maternal pregnancy exposures and offspring with CHD by employing a range of epidemiological techniques using multiple independent data sources. During the pandemic, he has been participating in several national and international studies evaluating the cardiovascular effects of Covid-19 and its impact on surgical practice.

 In the last two years Caputo and his team have established an intense collaboration with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Big Data Enterprise and Artificial Intelligence Lab (Big-DEAL) led by Prof Bilal at the University of West of England (UWE) Bristol. This is a unique collaboration based on unique mix of cross-disciplinary competencies and a multidisciplinary research approach, for integrating diverse digital technologies holistically to address health care challenges rather than treating the technologies in silos. Underpinned by this core approach, the research team at Big-DEAL UWE is revolutionising and transforming the health industry to improve its productivity, efficiency, patient safety and satisfaction. The focus of this research partnership is the creation of innovative ideas to leverage the latest digital technologies and address cardiac surgery challenges. The goal is the continuous development of new technologically driven products, which directly impacts UK competitiveness and enhance digital health care delivery.