MAHSC’s ‘Strategic Engine’ drives forward as key clinicians appointed to lead health research and innovation in Manchester
Press release: 29 January 2010
Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre (MAHSC) is delighted to announce the appointment of four Clinical Academic Section Leads who will join their fellow Enabling Academic Section Leads, announced in November, to spearhead MAHSC’s strategic development. Together with the Director, Chief Operating Officer and Board-level Member representatives, the Academic Section Leads make up MAHSC’s Executive Management Team.
The Academic Section Leads take responsibility for the clinical, enabling and education and training themes that are core to delivering the MAHSC strategy and realising the vision “to be a leading global centre for the delivery of innovative applied health research and education into healthcare”. Their remit covers the entire spectrum of activity from ‘molecule to metropolis’, embracing laboratory discovery through to service innovation in the community.
The appointments are:
Professor Linda Gask - Clinical Academic Section Lead for Mental Health
Linda is Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry at the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Salford Primary Care Trust. She will also be working closely with Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust. Her research, teaching and clinical work has been focused improving the quality of care for people with common mental health problems and communication at the interface between primary and specialist mental health care. She trained in medicine in Edinburgh, and in Psychiatry in the North West of England, where she has worked for most of the last thirty years, and is the author of more than 100 academic papers and several books. She has also been a consultant to the World Health Organization.
The Mental Health Academic Section will build on key assets in Manchester including the NIHR Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) National Coordinating Centre (with London) and the Centre for Suicide Prevention. Areas of expertise include neurodegenerative disease (fronto-temporal lobe dementia), memory clinics, management of psychosis and bipolar disorders, suicide and self harm prevention and liaison psychiatry.
Professor Graeme Black - Clinical Academic Section Lead for Human Development & Genetics
Graeme is Professor of Genetics and Ophthalmology at the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant in Genetics and Ophthalmology at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Graeme is also Director of the Manchester Biomedical Research (BRC). His research interests centre on inherited disorders that are associated with visual disability and blindness, their causes and their management and he has published some 90 papers along with contributions to many books. Graeme qualified in Medicine at Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists as well as a Member of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Human Development & Genetics Academic Section is closely aligned to the Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) in Genetics and Developmental Medicine. Major research capabilities in genetics and pregnancy are supported by extensive clinical expertise within the MAHSC partners including that at the new Royal Manchester Childrens’ Hospital, the largest in the UK.
Professor John Radford - Clinical Academic Section Lead for Cancer
John is a Consultant in Medical Oncology and Director of Research at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Manchester. He is also the Clinical Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC). John trained at the University of Sheffield and held clinical posts in Sheffield, London, and Exeter before coming to Manchester in 1984. John’s own research interests include new therapies for Hodgkin’s disease and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, biomarkers of response and remission duration, treatment related infertility and other late-effects of chemotherapy. He has published over 100 papers in thee areas and authored chapters in several books.
The Cancer Academic Section will link directly to the MCRC and build upon the extensive clinical research facilities of the Christie Trust while embracing the considerable expertise amongst the other MAHSC partners. Manchester’s particular strengths include lung, breast and haematology cancers, radiation research and biomarker development. Cancer research at The University of Manchester was No 1 in the national rankings, RAE 2008.
Dr Simon Ray – Clinical Academic Section Lead for Cardiovascular
Simon is a Consultant Cardiologist at the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Reader in Cardiology at the University of Manchester. He is Vice President Elect of the British Cardiovascular Society’s Clinical Standards Division and Immediate Past President of the British Society of Echocardiography. He has authored more than 70 papers and has been a member of the steering committee of several major cardiology trials. Simon qualified in medicine at Bristol and came to Manchester in 1995 having held positions in Bristol, Glasgow, Newcastle, Vancouver, Canada, and Liverpool.
Diabetes, Stroke and Arrhythmias are key areas of expertise within the Cardiovascular Academic Section while the four implementation themes of the Greater Manchester Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) are heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Research in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Manchester was ranked No 4 nationally in the RAE 2008.
Academic Section Leads in Inflammation & Repair and Education & Training will be appointed soon, completing the MAHSC Executive Management Team.
Notes for Editors:
1. MAHSC is a partnership between The University of Manchester, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, NHS Salford (Salford Primary Care Trust), Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. See www.mahsc.ac.uk
2. MAHSC has the tripartite mission of research and innovation, education and training and healthcare. Research and innovation will be embedded as a driver of quality and productivity in alignment with the NHS Quality, Innovation, Production, Prevention (QIPP) framework. “Partnership for the Patient - Bringing Benefit through Research, Education and Innovation.
3. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), a partnership between the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and The University of Manchester. It was established in April 2008, one of 12 such centres across the UK and is designated by the NIHR as a genetics and developmental medicine BRC. The Funding from the two BRC partners and the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) (www.nwda.co.uk) also supports the BRC to develop its various research priorities and industry interface.
4. The Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) is a partnership of The University of Manchester (including the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research), The Christie (a specialist cancer hospital) and the charity, Cancer Research UK and was formed in January 2006. The MCRC supports and develops basic, translational and clinical research in order to ensure that discoveries in cancer biology result in better patient diagnostics, improved patient care and more effective treatment. MCRC has a major strategic alliance with AstraZeneca.
5. CLAHRC is the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care one of nine in the UK. It has a focus on translating research into practice for everyday use in the NHS and implementing and evaluating such interventions in routine clinical practice. The CLAHRC is a collaboration between NHS acute, primary care and mental health trusts in Greater Manchester and the University of Manchester and is funded by the NIHR and the Greater Manchester Primary Care Trusts.