Dr Steven Cox BSc (Hons) PhD

Chief Executive of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young

Dr Steven Cox is the Chief Executive of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). The CRY screening programme has grown year on year and in 2018 CRY tested over 29,000 young people. CRY has an international reputation for research led by Professor Sanjay Sharma. CRY supports more than 2,000 families after young sudden cardiac deaths and 100s of young people who have been identified with potentially life threatening cardiac conditions.

Dr Steven Cox has been involved with the charity since it was founded in 1995. In 1997, he worked with world experts Professor Andrew Steptoe and Professor Bill McKenna at St George’s Hospital and published the first quality of life study looking at the psychological impact of living with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. His research in 1997 also focused on the important role of specialised units in the diagnosis and management of inherited cardiac conditions. In 2007 he completed a PhD at UCL in the department of Epidemiology and Public Health under the supervision of Professor Andrew Steptoe (Psychobiology), evaluating the psychological impact of cardiac screening. He has represented CRY on a number of government advisory groups including the National Service Framework Chapter 8 (2005). As an elite athlete on a university sports scholarship in the US (1992) he had a unique personal insight into the impact of being diagnosed with a cardiac condition and the impact this can have on a professional sporting career.