Nobel prize winner joins MAHSC line up

Press release: 11 February 2011

Professor Ashley Woodcock, is the latest high profile appointment to the executive management team of MAHSC (Manchester Academic Health Science Centre). Professor Woodcock has a track record in environmental campaigning, and he shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore in 2007 for his work on CFCs and climate change,

A leading researcher and physician in respiratory diseases, Professor Woodcock becomes Academic Section Lead for Inflammation and Repair- one of five clinical areas identified to improve the health and well-being of the population of Greater Manchester, which registers some of the poorest health in the country.

Professor Woodcock says he is delighted to be joining MAHSC. “Our region faces huge health challenges, with mortality rates for all of the big killer diseases higher than the national average and life expectancy for men who live here lower than anywhere else in the UK. Yet, it is by translating research and education into healthcare that we will truly benefit our patients – now and in the future. Through its partnerships, and building on Manchester’s track record of achievement, I do believe we are seeing MAHSC making a difference which is measurable and sustainable.”

MAHSC Director, Professor Chris Griffiths said: “I am delighted that Professor Woodcock has joined the MAHSC executive team,. His broad understanding of how innovative ideas can be translated into better care for our patients and improved health of the Manchester population for all aspects of inflammatory disease will be a great asset to the team”

Professor Ashley Woodcock
Professor Woodcock is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the North West Lung Centre and the University of Manchester. He is also a Consultant Respiratory Physician at the University Hospital of South Manchester, where he is the Clinical Academic Lead. He graduated with first-class honours in physiology and an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Manchester in 1975.He was appointed an NHS Consultant Physician in Manchester in 1985 and became Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Manchester in 1998.

He was been Chairman of the Clinical Assembly of the European Respiratory Society, Chairman of the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Committee and Public Education Officer of the British Thoracic Society. He was awarded the OBE in 2006 for his Chairmanship of the Medical Technical Committee to the Montreal Protocol for the previous decade. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with IPCC Al Gore. He was awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2008.

He has a wide range of clinical research interests which are all patient focussed and has authored over 200 original publications. Together with Professor Adnan Custovic, he established the Manchester Asthma and Allergy Study, which is a cohort of over one thousand children followed prospectively from birth through the first decade of their life so far to investigate the genetic-environmental aetiology of allergy and asthma. More recently, he has developed an interest in cough, and his group have developed and ambulatory cough monitor with appropriate patent protection jointly held by the Trust and the University. He helped establish the Medicines Evaluation Unit which carries out Phase 1-4 clinical trials on novel treatments for respiratory diseases. He now heads a group of four other Academic Chairs in Respiratory Medicine and five Senior Lecturers covering all subspecialties of Respiratory Medicine in newly built specialist facilities at the North West Lung Centre.

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.
  2. MAHSC is one of only five Department of Health designated Academic Health Science Centres in England
  3. 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.