Former Bristol student's mission to find cure in memory of late father

A son who vowed to find a cure for his late father's heart disease when he was 11-years-old has started a PhD in his memory.

As a child, Tim Roberts moved across the world from Australia so that his dad could receive pioneering treatment.

But no cure could be found and after being "really ill" for years Ken Roberts died in April 2021.

The former University of Bristol student said his father "instilled" his work ethic, persistence and resilience.

Mr Roberts, 26, already has a degree and a master's in pharmacology.

He has now started a PhD researching cardiac disease treatments at Melbourne's Monash University, a world leader in pharmacology and heart failure.

He then plans to continue working in research to find a cure for heart disease - partly because he knows that the same disease may also affect him and his brother Mark in later life.

"I thought about giving up many times to help care for dad, but knowing that I was doing this for him helped me through," he said.

"Dad had a couple of heart attacks when I was 10 or 11, so since I was young most memories of my father are him being ill.

"We had a close relationship and me and my brother learned a lot from him."

Mr Roberts grew up on 42 acres of land outside Melbourne, where his father had emigrated from Northern Ireland to become a successful businessman.

But after his condition worsened, the family moved 9,000 miles to Texas in 2009 so he could receive a rare form of heart treatment not available elsewhere.

They did not have health insurance so spent all their savings on medical bills.

In 2013 they moved to Cardiff, where Mr Roberts arrived as a 17-year-old without any qualifications and with the family's money gone.

"If you offered me this life again, even with everything that happened, I'd take it in a heartbeat," he said.

"The adversity that we've been through as a family has made me who I am."

Mr Roberts went on to get top grades in his A-levels while working two jobs to earn a place at the University of Bristol.

Although he "absolutely loved" studying in the city, his father's disease continued to loom large.

"I knew things were really going to change - I did years of therapy with the university's mental health services in preparation," he said.

"Two days before the final exam of my undergrad, my dad called me and said he didn't have much time left.

"That really hit me. I'd been preparing for 10 years and I thought I was ready but it was still a huge shock."

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