Dr. Athanasios Charalampopoulos

ABOUT Dr. Athanasios Charalampopoulos

I am a Consultant Cardiologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, working within the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit, one of the UK’s seven nationally commissioned adult Pulmonary Hypertension centres. I also work with the Heart Failure service at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield and am a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield.

A particular area of expertise is the assessment of patients with unexplained breathlessness and exercise intolerance. Many patients undergo numerous investigations without receiving a clear diagnosis because breathlessness often results from a complex interaction between the heart, lungs and physical conditioning. My practice focuses on identifying the underlying cause of these symptoms through a comprehensive, physiology-based assessment.

Although my specialist training is in cardiology, I have spent a big part of my career working within multidisciplinary cardiopulmonary services alongside both cardiologists and respiratory physicians. This has given me extensive experience in evaluating both cardiac and respiratory causes of breathlessness, as well as conditions where symptoms span both specialties. By integrating information from echocardiography, lung function testing, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), cross-sectional imaging and right heart catheterisation, I aim to establish an accurate diagnosis and develop an individualised management plan.

My specialist interests include pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, cardiovascular imaging, particularly echocardiography, exercise physiology and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. I established the echocardiography and CPET laboratories within the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit in Sheffield and continue to lead specialist echocardiography and CPET services.

After graduating from the Medical School of the University of Athens, I completed specialist training in General Cardiology before moving to the UK in 2011 to undertake advanced subspecialty training in Pulmonary Hypertension and Heart Failure. I trained at the National Pulmonary Hypertension Service at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and subsequently at Great Ormond Street Hospital, gaining expertise in pulmonary hypertension, congenital heart disease, exercise physiology and advanced cardiopulmonary assessment.

I am a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and was awarded a PhD from the University of Sheffield for research into right ventricular function in pulmonary hypertension. My research has focused on pulmonary hypertension, unexplained breathlessness and cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and I have published widely in these fields while serving as Principal Investigator and Sub-Investigator in numerous national and international clinical trials.