I completed my bachelor degree with first honour in Cardiac Technology at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) in 2014, Saudi Arabia where I was born and raised. I was then offered an academic

Currently, I am doing an MPhil/PhD Cardiovascular Sciences degree program at UCL under the supervision of Professor Alun Hughes, Professor Rebecca Hardy and Dr Chloe Park. My PhD involves incorporating novel cardiovascular measures in relation to adverse outcomes in populations with multiple risk factors predisposing to heart failure. I am working with a multidisciplinary team of expertise in various aspects of cardiometabolic disease and aging as well as with national and International collaborators. I have a strong interest in clinical research and I am looking forward to contributing to the field in the near future.
Qualifications
• Master of Science (MSc) and Diploma of Imperial College (DIC) in Medical Ultrasound (Echocardiography) 2016/2017
Distinction Award and Dean’s Prize Winner, Imperial College London
Thesis title: Left atrial function in heart failure with mid-range ejection fraction differs from that of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a two dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography study
• Diploma of Transthoracic Echocardiography-online 2015
Medical University of Vienna
• Bachelor of Cardiac Technology (Echocardiography) 2014
First honorary degree, GPA: 4.83/5.0
University of Dammam, College of Applied Medical Sciences
Awards (some)
- Award: 3rd place Young Investigator Award, the Artery 19 Conference, Budapest, Hungry, 11th Oct 2019
- Award: SLMS Graduate Funding ‘Student Conference Fund Award’, UCL, June 2019
- Award: Distinction Reward from the Saudi Cultural Bureau in the UK (SACB) during my PhD, June 2019
- Award: ‘Best of the Best Clinical (Imaging) Abstract Award, the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) Annual Conference 2019, June 2019
- Award: ESC Congress Educational Grant Award (ESC Congress Paris 2019), May 2019
- Award: EuroEcho-2018 Grant Award to present my abstracts in Milan, Italy, December 2018
- BSE (British Society of Echocardiography) investigator of the year 2018 finalist, October 2018
- Honored by the Saudi Ambassador in the UK Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf as one of the outstanding Saudi students in the UK, September 2018
- Award: Distinction Reward from the Saudi Cultural Bureau in the UK (SACB) during my MSc, January 2018
- Award: Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Prize for Medical Ultrasound (Echocardiography)-Imperial College London, November 2017
- Award: Prince Mohammed Bin Fahad Prize of the scientific excellence for the year 2010, Saudi Arabia
- Award: Fourth place prize in the National Chemistry Olympiad for the year 2010, Saudi Arabia
Accepted abstracts and presentations
Al Saikhan L, Park C, Tillin T, Mayet J, Chaturvedi N, Hughes A. Arterial stiffness partly explains sex differences in associations between left ventricular structure and mortality: the Southall and Brent revisited (SABRE) study.
Selected for the Young Investigator Award (Finalist) session and presented as oral presentation at Artery 19 conference, Budapest, Hungry 11th Oct 2019
Al Saikhan L, Park C, Tillin T,Williams S, Mayet J, Chaturvedi N, Hughes A. Comparison of 3D and 2D echocardiography-derived indices of left ventricular function and structure to predict long-term mortality in the general population: Southall And Brent Revisited (SABRE) study.
Accepted/presented as poster presentation at ESC Congress 2019, Paris, France, 1st September 2019
A Vrettos, L Al Saikhan, L Matiti, C Plymen, B Low, P Nihoyannopoulos. Left atrial strain parameters predict clinical outcomes in patients with HFmrEF and HFpEF.
Accepted/presented as poster presentation at ESC Congress 2019, Paris, France, 1st September 2019
Al Saikhan L, Park C, Tillin T, Mayet J, Chaturvedi N, Hughes A. 3 3D echocardiography-derived indices of left ventricular function and structure predict long-term mortality differently in men and women: the Southall And Brent Revisited (SABRE) study. Heart. 2019;105:A3-A5. (Accepted/presented as poster presentation at BCS Annual conference 2019, Manchester, UK, 3rd June 2019Selected among top 3 rated abstracts in Imaging category, and presented as oral presentation in the Best of the Best Zone, 4th June 2019)
A Vrettos, L Al Saikhan, C Plymen, J Chilcott, L Matiti, P Nihoyannopoulos. P978 Left atrial function in HFpEF and HFmrEF patients; relation to pulmonary artery systolic pressure. European Journal of Heart Failure 21(S1):5-592. DOI: 10.1002/ejhf.1488. (Accepted/presented as poster presentation at Heart Failure Congress 2019, Athens, Greece, 25th -28th May 2019)
L Al Saikhan, C Park, A Hughes. P644 The impact of intentional distortion of image quality on left ventricular deformation indices by three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography. European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging. 2019;20:i363-i381. DOI: 10.1093/ehjci/jey265 (Accepted/presented as HIT (Hear Imager of Tomorrow) poster presentation at EuroEcho Imaging, Milan, Dec 2018)
L Al Saikhan, C Park, A Hughes. P645 Reliability of left ventricular dyssynchrony indices by three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography: the impact of intentional impairment of image quality. European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging. 2019;20:i363-i381. DOI: 10.1093/ehjci/jey265 (Accepted/presented as HIT (Hear Imager of Tomorrow) poster presentation at EuroEcho Imaging, Milan, Dec 2018)
Prognostic Implications of Left Ventricular Strain by Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in the General Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Accepted/presented as a poster presentation at BSE 2018, Liverpool, UK, Oct 2018
Quantifying the effect of image quality on three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography. Accepted/presented as oral presentation, BSE Investigator of the Year Finalist, Liverpool, UK, Oct 2018
L. K. Al Saikhan, C. Park, A. Hughes. Europhysiology 2018 (London, UK) (2018) Proc Physiol Soc 41, PCA033. Accepted and Presented as moderated poster presentation at Early Career Physiologists' Symposium, London, UK, 13th Sept 2018, AND Europhysiology, London, UK, 14th Sept 2018
Al Saikhan L, Nihoyannopoulos P. P1807Left atrial function in heart failure with mid-range ejection fraction differs from that of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiographic study. European Heart Journal. 2018;39:ehy565.P1807-ehy565.P1807. DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehy565.P1807 (Accepted and Presented as a poster presentation at ESC Congress 2018, Munich, Germany, 25th-29th August 2018)
Azoz; A. Al Shehri; A. Youssef; A. Gad; M. Alsharqi; L. Alsaikhan. P1119Correlation between ST segment shift and cardiac diastolic function in patients with acute myocardial infarction. European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging 16(suppl_2): Pages S183–S209 – December 2015. DOI: 10.1093/ehjci/jev275
Appointments
- Chairman of the scientific and educational programs committee in the Saudi Society
- Research student representative at UCL, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
- Vice Chairman of the Public Relations Committee and member of the scientific programs committee (UCL Saudi Society) – April2018 - July2019
- Member of the ICS Research Degree Committee (RDC), ICS Departmental Teaching Committee (DTC), Student-staff Consultative Committee (SSCC) committee, and Research and Networking Group (RANG)
- Co-lead of the ICS Postgraduate society
Contact details
Email: Lamia.saikhan.16@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter: Lamya_k_s.
Instagram: Lamia_alsaikhan
Researchgate: Lamia_Al_Saikhan
LinkedIn: Lamia-khaled-al-saikhan
Media links:
• Sabre Study News
• ‘Best of the Best’ Clinical Abstract British Cardiovascular Society Annual Conference
• MRC Unit for Liefelong Health and Ageing - News and Events
• ICS Twitter News Item
• ICS
• LHA
• SABRE