He is a leading international researcher in heart failure, focusing on improving diagnosis, management and monitoring, and has led large, international clinical trials to study treatments. He also conducted one of the earliest large trials of home telemonitoring for heart failure and continues to promote innovations in this field. Professor Cleland qualified at the University of Glasgow in 1977. Shortly after, he was appointed as a senior registrar. Between 1986 and 1994, he was a senior lecturer in cardiology and honorary consultant cardiologist at St Mary’s Paddington and Hammersmith Hospital, London. In 1994, Professor Cleland was awarded a senior research fellowship from the British Heart Foundation, and so transferred to the Medical Research Council’s research initiative in heart failure. He joined Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust from the University of Hull, where he was appointed foundation chair of cardiology in 1999. Professor Cleland’s main research interest is heart failure, including its epidemiology and prevention, and development and implementation of guidelines. He has participated in a number of randomised trials to study interventions for heart failure, including the CARE-HF, PEP-CHF and HeartCycle studies. He has been involved in research on the role of myocardial hibernation contributing to heart failure and its treatment (including beta-blockers and revascularisation), diastolic heart failure in the elderly, ventricular resynchronisation, implantable haemodynamic monitoring devices, atrial fibrillation in heart failure and advanced electrophysiology.