Colin Caro

by | Feb 21, 2024

Colin Caro
Imperial College London, UK
2000

Colin Caro, a physiologist and medical doctor, is Emeritus Professor of Physiological Mechanics and Senior Research Investigator in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. In 1966, he founded the Physiological Flow Studies Unit, which, with other groups, and the support of various bodies, including the Bagrit Foundation, pioneered bioengineering at Imperial College and had global impact. Among his contributions, Professor Caro was the first to propose and demonstrate that, contrary to the longstanding prevailing view, atherosclerosis in adults develops preferentially in stagnation, or low wall shear, regions in arteries. The initial publications have been cited over a thousand times and given rise to probably several times that number of papers on wall shear and vascular biology and pathology. Professor Caro also later drew attention to the three-dimensionality (non-planarity) of arterial geometry and resulting effects on blood flow, including inhibition of separation and instability and promotion of cross-mixing and blood-wall mass transport. This understanding is finding application in relation to circulatory disease, and arterial bypass and vascular access grafts and endovascular stents. It is also finding application in industrial flows. Professor Caro has held office in international biomechanics societies and advised on vascular disease at governmental level. He has been the recipient of several awards/fellowships and honorary doctorates.