Dr. James Stirrup

Dr James Stirrup is a Consultant Cardiologist and Head of Cardiology at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, specialising in cardiovascular imaging. He graduated from Imperial College London with degrees in Neuroscience and Medicine, before completing postgraduate training in General Medicine and Cardiology in London and Wessex. He went on to undertake doctoral research in Cardiovascular Imaging at Imperial College and the Royal Brompton Hospital, earning the 2014 National Heart and Lung Institute Thesis Prize. Alongside his medical training, he obtained a Diploma in Physical Science from the Open University, membership of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, and a Diploma in Legal Medicine with Dsistinction from the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine.

Appointed Consultant Cardiologist in 2016, Dr Stirrup is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, European Society of Cardiology and the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT). He has played an active role in shaping the field of cardiac imaging as a past Executive Committee member of the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging/Cardiovascular CT, serving as Treasurer (2019–2022), Lead for Accreditation (2018–2019), and Liaison to the British Nuclear Cardiology Society. He has also contributed to regional and national committees, including the Thames Valley and Oxford Congenital Heart Disease Operational Delivery Network and the Royal Berkshire Hospital BMA Local Negotiating Committee, where he served as Chair (2020–2022).

Passionate about medical education, Dr Stirrup is a Royal College of Physicians Accredited Educator and Educational Supervisor for Cardiology Specialty Registrars at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. He also sits on the Higher Education Thames Valley Cardiology StR Annual Review of Competence Progression Panel and has contributed nationally to the Royal College of Physicians PACES Scenario Writing Group. He lectures nationally and internationally on cardiac imaging and has delivered specialist training courses for leading professional bodies, including the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging, the British Cardiovascular Society, the British Institute of Radiology, and the European Society of Cardiology.

Dr Stirrup has co-authored the Royal College of Radiology Standards for CT Coronary Angiography, contributed to the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Imaging, and is co-editor of the Oxford Specialist Handbook of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, now in its second edition. He also served as a Cardiovascular Imaging Expert Panel Member for the 8th edition of the Royal College of Radiology’s iRefer Guidelines.

In clinical practice, Dr Stirrup sees patients with chest pain, breathlessness, palpitations, dizziness, and blackouts, as well as those with high blood pressure, chronic stable angina, valve disease, heart failure, and rhythm disturbances. He also has a particular interest in cardiovascular risk reduction and the use of advanced imaging techniques to optimise patient care.

Dr Stirrup consults patients at The Berkshire Clinic on Wednesday afternoons and West Berkshire Community Hospital on Tuesday afternoons. He undertakes specialist cardiovascular investigations at the Royal Berkshire Hospital on Monday evenings (cardiovascular CT), Wednesday mornings (echocardiography) and Friday mornings (echocardiography).