Getting on nicely – collaboration boost for MAHSC and Manchester

24th May 2011

Sir Andrew Dillon, Chief Executive of NICE, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice Chancellor of The University of Manchester and Professor Ian Jacobs, Director of MAHSC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of their respective organisations.

The Memorandum outlines a number of potential areas for collaboration such as research into the uptake of NICE guidance in the clinical setting, the development and evaluation of health technologies, national and international health policy and practice, and teaching and training on evidence-based methodology.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC), share a commitment to improving the overall health of the population, through informing health policy and practice and in the development and evaluation of health technologies.  MAHSC is dedicated to enhancing and improving translational medicine; the identification of unmet clinical need and the application of research and innovation to fulfilling that need and delivering improved patient care through its NHS partners. The University of Manchester is the lead research and teaching member for MAHSC.

Sir Andrew Dillon said is a privilege for NICE to be associated with The University of Manchester, an institution with a distinguished history of research, teaching and innovation in the health sciences. “Together, we will be able to explore and take advantage of a range of opportunities for supporting health and social care, in the UK and internationally, to improve quality of care and achieve better outcomes."

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell said: “This is an extremely important partnership for the University and the Hospital Trusts, and for the future impact of health care.”

Professor Ian Jacobs, commented: “MAHSC and the University of Manchester are delighted to have the opportunity to work with colleagues from NICE, a large majority of whom now work in Manchester, to support the development of health technologies and public health research as well as underpinning the importance of evidence based medicine to the 6,800 undergraduate and 2,300 postgraduate clinical and allied health students in our teaching programmes.
 
The Memorandum of Understanding is particularly focused on health technologies and public health, drawing on both NICE’s expertise and a number of MAHSC programmes and University research groupings including: Institute of Health Sciences, School of Community Based Medicine, Manchester: Integrating Medicine and Innovative Technology (MIMIT), Manchester Mobile Health Innovation Centre, Northwest E-Health, Northwest Institute for Bio-health Informatics, Greater Manchester Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) and Nowgen.

Along with research initiatives and joint staff workshops, the collaboration will be facilitated by honorary appointments for NICE staff at the University including those recently approved for Professor Mike Kelly (NICE Public Health Excellence Centre Director) and Professor Carole Longson (NICE Health Technology Evaluation Centre Director).