Programme: Academic Metabolic Medicine
Type of programme
The AF2 will have the opportunity to spend four months doing cutting edge research
in the Department of Investigative Medicine at Hammersmith Hospital.
Brief outline of department
The Department of Investigative Medicine has an outstanding record for translational
research and the research profile of the department is world class. The laboratory’s
research is both clinical and laboratory based and is conducted by a range of
medical doctors and scientists.
The group has conducted the first human infusions of a number of novel peptides in
man which have been done by Clinical Training Fellows (including ghrelin (Wren et
al. JCEM 2001), peptide YY (PYY) (Batterham et al. Nature 2002), oxyntomodulin
(Cohen et al. JCEM 2003), kisspeptin (Dhillo et al. JCEM 2005, 2007, 2009). The
department is well-equipped and consists of a team of clinical academics and basic
scientists with a wide variety of scientific expertise who work very closely together.
The Unit is funded by numerous grants including programme grants from the Medical
Research Council (MRC) and the Wellcome Trust. The department has a very good
record of training junior doctors; in the last 5 years the Department has trained 12
Wellcome Trust and MRC Clinical Training Fellows and currently there are 5
Wellcome Trust and MRC Clinical Training Fellows in the laboratory. The laboratory
has a programme of basic science and translational research investigating appetite
pathways in order to develop novel targets for the treatment of obesity. The
department also has a strong track record of translational research investigating the
action of novel hormones.
Further
information
can
be
found
on
the
departmental
website:
http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/departmentofmedicine/divisions/diabetesendocrinologym
etabolism/meta/
Structure of academic project/what expected
The AF2 year will be based at Hammersmith Hospital, and will include 4 months of
Acute Medicine, 4 months of Haematology, and 4 months Academic Metabolic
Medicine where the AF2 will be given insight into the link between clinical medicine
and the laboratory.
The AF2 will be incorporated into the laboratory’s research themes during their four
month research block and is expected to actively participate in a number of defined
research projects. This involves working with doctoral and post-doctoral students
and a range of other professionals. Additionally, the trainee is expected to partake in
the variety of laboratory research meetings and presentations such as the journal
club. There is also the opportunity to be involved with teaching and to attend general
endocrine clinics.
This is an ideal post in which to gain clinical laboratory experience as well as
experience in basic research. The AF2 will work with highly skilled clinical scientists
who will provide training in the relevant techniques. The particular value to the AF2
will be in gaining an understanding of metabolic medicine, and being able to interpret
dynamic tests in a clinical light.
There will be both academic and clinical supervision throughout the programme.
There will be enthusiastic support for trainees to undertake clinical projects
investigating metabolic disease. This should lead to presentations at National or
International meetings. The work of some AF2s in the past has resulted in several
peer reviewed publications.
The research will be supervised by Professor Waljit Dhillo (w.dhillo@imperial.ac.uk)
and Professor Steve Bloom (s.bloom@imperial.ac.uk).
Clinical commitments during academic placement
The AF2 will carry out limited clinical duties, including dynamic pituitary function
testing, and will then assess and interpret the results. We have dedicated metabolic
medicine ward space both at Charing Cross and Hammersmith Hospitals.
Departmental academic teaching programme (if applicable)
The AF2 will attend weekly research meetings as well as Trust F2 teaching.
Academic Lead:
Prof Karim Meeran
Professor of Endocrinology
k.meeran@imperial.ac.uk