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Professor Chakravarthi Rajkumar

Professor Chakravarthi Rajkumar (MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCP, FBHS)

Chair of Geriatric Care and Stroke Medicine
E: C.Rajkumar@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1273 523361
Location: Audrey Emerton Building, Room 127, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton, BN2 5BE

E: uhsussex.daelderlycare@nhs.net

T: +44 (0)1273 523360

Areas of expertise: Geriatric care and stroke medicine

Research areas: Clinical trials in the very elderly; hypertension; vascular compliance; living wills and hospital acquired infections in the elderly; adverse drug reactions in older patients

Biography

Professor Rajkumar (Raj) was appointed in January 2005 as the Chair of Geriatric and Stroke Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and is one of the Consultant Stroke Physicians at University Hospitals Sussex in Brighton. He is also Associate Director for Early Career Research Development in the Local Clinical Research Network (Kent, Surrey and Sussex), part of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).

Professor Rajkumar has been actively involved in research in the field of Geriatrics and Stroke medicine. Current research interests include clinical trials in the very elderly, hypertension, vascular compliance and adverse drug reactions. He has published over 350 abstracts, peer reviewed papers and book chapters in journals including NEJM, The Lancet, the BMJ and JAMA.

Professor Rajkumar is currently the Chief Investigator for White Coat Hypertension (WCH) in the Very Elderly Trial (HYVET 2), a multi-centre trial funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust. He has been awarded a number of research grants from charitable organisations including the British Heart Foundation, Dunhill Medical Trust, NIHR (Research for Patient Benefits) and PPP Healthcare.

Professor Rajkumar was awarded the fellowship of the British Hypertension Society in 2014 and the Health Service Journal award in 2020. He holds offices for a number of national and international research organisations, and is an advisor on grants funded by the NIHR, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, Singapore), Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, NIH (USA) and other charitable funding bodies in the UK.

Professor Rajkumar is an Associate Editor for the Journal Age & Ageing (Oxford University Press) and a member of editorial boards of other international journals. He has contributed to clinical guideline development for NICE (National Institute Care and Clinical Excellence) and is currently a member of the cardiovascular risk prevention guideline committee.

In addition, Professor Rajkumar has been a peer reviewer for over 15 international journals. He has been an external examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate medicine at the University of Zambia and an external examiner of MD and PhD theses for several UK and international universities.

Professor Rajkumar has been a member of Med Chi Society since 2005 and an executive member prior to being elected President. He is currently the Vice President of the Society. He was elected Distinguished Fellow of the Global Association of Physicians of India Origin (GAPIO) in April 2024. He is keen to continue to develop the society to enable existing and new members to hear about a wide variety of topical issues and exciting innovations from experts in their fields.

Research

Cardiovascular laboratory-based research into the ageing process of arteries
Epidemiology research into hypertension and cardiovascular risk factors
Hospital-based research focusing on the use of probiotics in the prevention of hospital acquired infections in the elderly
Research focusing on adverse drug events in the elderly
Study of biomarkers in the development of Frailty.

Teaching

Chakravarthi is particularly interested in developing young people's interest in elderly care and geriatric research. He wants them to see the extent to which research can make a significant difference to this area of medicine. He aims to illustrate how important it is to focus on improving the quality of people's lives rather than just prolonging them. He is also developing various techniques to enable safe bedside teaching to medical students in the current pandemic.

Selected publications

Saunders, Alec, Nuredini, Gani N, Kirkham, Frances A, Drazich, Erin, Bunting, Eva, Rankin, Philip, Ali, Khalid, Okorie, Michael and Rajkumar, Chakravarthi (2022) White-coat hypertension/effect is associated with higher arterial stiffness and stroke events. Journal of Hypertension, 40 (4). pp. 758-764. ISSN 0263-6352

Hussain, A S, Ali, K, Parekh, N, Stevenson, J M, Davies, J G, Bremner, S, Rajkumar, C and PRIME study group, (2022) Characterising older adults' risk of harm from blood-pressure lowering medications: a sub-analysis from the PRIME study. BGS Autumn Meeting 2021, Online, 24th - 26th November 2021. Published in: Age and Ageing. 51 (ISup_1) i1-i1. Oxford University Press ISSN 0002-0729

Stevenson, Jennifer M, Parekh, Nikesh, Chua, Kia-Chong, Davies, J Graham, Schiff, Rebekah, Rajkumar, Chakravarthi and Ali, Khalid (2022) A multi-centre cohort study on healthcare use due to medication-related harm: the role of frailty and polypharmacy. Age and Ageing, 51 (3). afac054 1-9. ISSN 0002-0729

Stevenson J.M, Parekh N, Chua K, Davies J.G, Schiff R, Rajkumar C, Ali K. Multicentre cohort study on healthcare use due to medication-related harm: the role of frailty and polypharmacy. Age Ageing. 2022 Mar 1;51(3):afac054. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afac054.

Kirkham, F., Pera, A., Simanek, A. M., Bano, A., Morrow, G., Reus, B., . . . Kern, F. (2021). Cytomegalovirus infection is associated with an increase in aortic stiffness in older men which may be mediated in part by CD4 memory T-cells. Theranostics, 11(12), 5728-5741..

Rajkumar C, Wilks M, Islam J, Ali K, Raftery J, Davies KA, Timeyin J, Cheek E, Cohen J; Investigators. Do probiotics prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhoea? Results of a multicentre randomized placebo-controlled trial. J Hosp Infect. 2020 Jun;105(2):280-288.

Parekh N, Ali K, Davies JG, Stevenson JM, Banya W, Nyangoma S, Schiff R, van der Cammen T, Harchowal J, Rajkumar C. Medication-related harm in older adults following hospital discharge: development and validation of a prediction tool. BMJ Qual Saf. 2020 Feb;29(2):142-153.

Scutt G, Overall A, Bakrania P, Krasteva e, Parekh N, Ali K, Davies GJ, Rajkumar C. The association of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the nuclear factor erythroid derived-2 like 2 (Nrf-2) gene with adverse drug reactions, multimorbidity and frailty in older people. Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences. 2020 May;22;75(6):1050-1057.

Bulpitt JC, Beckett N, Peters R, Staessen AJ, Wang GJ, Comsa M, Fagard HR, Dumitrascu D, Gergova V, Antikainen LR, Cheek E, Rajkumar C. Does White Coat Hypertension Require Treatment Over Age 80? Results of the Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial Ambulatory Blood Pressure Side Project. Hypertension. 2013 Jan;61(1):89-94.

CLOTS (Clots in Legs Stockings after Stroke) Trial Collaboration. Thigh-length versus below-knee stockings for deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis after stroke: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2010 Nov 2;153(9):553-62.

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