Professor Martin Cowie takes listeners on a journey through the vascular system to discuss the dangers of heart disease. Heart disease causes 18 million deaths a year, 1 every 2 seconds. Within 2 generations, it has moved from being a condition that affects wealthier countries to a global epidemic. Martin is Professor of Cardiology at Imperial College London and a Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust in London. He diagnoses and treats people with heart problems – with the aim of them living as long and as healthy lives as possible. He is a Non-Executive Director of the National institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is the gateway to funding of new diagnostics, drugs and technologies in the NHS in England. He loves to talk and write about his passion for curing heart disease. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx