UCL SCHOOL OF LIFE AND MEDICAL
SCIENCES
(incorporating UCL MEDICAL SCHOOL)
SLMS BULLETIN – 14 NOVEMBER 2011
Dear Colleagues
The bulletin aims to keep staff up to date with School activities, events,
awards, achievements and news.
Please forward any comments or feedback to the School
Communications Manager, email: slms-editor@ucl.ac.uk or direct to me
at: viceprovosthealth@ucl.ac.uk.
Kind regards
Professor Sir John Tooke
Vice-Provost (Health), Head of UCL School of Life & Medical Sciences
Web: www.ucl.ac.uk/slms
Twitter: @ucl_slms
In this issue:
1 Domain Chair vacancies and appointments
2 Faculty news: New Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
and new Medical Sciences Faculty Manager
3 UCL Adolescent Health & Development workshop
4. Bloomsbury Institute for Pathogen Research
5. Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Training and Induction Sessions
6. Fellowship Applications Support Procedure
7 SLMS in the media
8 Staff success
9 Future SLMS events
10 New starters in SLMS
SLMS News
SLMS Domain Chair Vacancies
SLMS Domain Chair job descriptions (Infection, Immunity & Inflammation and Frontier Disciplines) are
available at:www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/vacancies.
Chair of the Population Health Domain
Professor Anne Johnson has been appointed the Chair of the Population Health Domain. I am sure you
will join with me in congratulating Anne and supporting her in this important initiative.
Faculty News
New Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
Professor Aroon Hingorani has been appointed Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences.
Aroon also leads the Genetic Epidemiology Group in the Faculty of Population Health Sciences.
I am sure you will join with me in congratulating Aroon, who has been appointed for a term extending from
1 November 2011 to 31 August 2016.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Interim Director, Professor William McKenna, for his
successful leadership of the Institute.
Further information is available on the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences website:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/cardiovascular/
New Faculty Manager - Faculty of Medical Science
Edna Murphy has been appointed Manager of the Faculty of Medical Health Sciences.. Edna comes to
the School following an appointment as Executive Director of the Joint Research Office at Imperial
College; prior to that Edna worked as Acting Director of Research Services at Cambridge University.
UCL Adolescent Health & Development Workshop
If you are a researcher or clinician interested in adolescent health or development, you are strongly
encouraged to attend our initial Adolescent Health & Development workshop on 21 February 2012
(14.00-17.00).
I will launch this initiative, aimed at setting up a cross-UCL network on Adolescent Health & Development.
The network will support research, build capacity, enable networking and identify UCL as a world leader
in adolescent health and development.
The network is jointly supported by the Reproduction & Development Domain and the Population Health
Domain, but we welcome participants from any part of UCL and partners.
A detailed programme will be available soon.
To attend, please notify Christian White (gapadmin@ich.ucl.ac.uk).
For more information, please contact Prof. Russell Viner (r.viner@ucl.ac.uk).
Location: Kennedy Lecture Theatre, UCL Institute of Child Health
Bloomsbury Institute for Pathogen Research (BiPR)
On Tuesday 8th November, the Bloomsbury Institute for Pathogen Research was launched. This event
was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between UCL and LSHTM, to establish
an international centre for excellence in experimental research on infectious diseases.
The MoU sets out the framework for a joint research strategy, co-ordination of collaborative research
activities, shared use of facilities, joint teaching, PhD and seminar programmes, and joint appointments.
The launch was held at UCL, and attended by around 200 UCL and LSHTM staff members together with
senior representatives of funding organisations, pharmaceutical companies, and the UCLH NHS Trust.
Talks by Professor Christopher Whitty and Professor Anne Johnson illustrated the global situation with
respect to infectious diseases and highlighted the timeliness of this initiative, a sentiment which was
echoed by Professor Sir Malcolm Grant and Professor Baron Peter Piot (Director of the LSHTM) both of
whom warmly supported the venture. A canapé reception was held in the Wilkins Old Refectory, where
posters demonstrated our joint strengths in pathogen, pathogenesis and translational research.
The BiPR organisational structure includes a Research Management Group (of which Professor Deenan
Pillay is the Director), a Scientific Executive Board, which will be chaired by Professor Simon Croft
(LSHTM) and an External Advisory Board, which has yet to be appointed.
For further information please contact Dr Nandi Simpson, Clinical and Scientific Research Coordinator
Project Manager, Bloomsbury Institute for Pathogen Research (i.simpson@ucl.ac.uk)
PPI Training and Induction Sessions
PPI Training for Researchers
As part of our drive to develop Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in biomedical research, the Joint
Research Office (JRO) is setting up a programme of PPI training for researchers. The JRO is currently
carrying out a survey of researchers to make sure the proposed training really meets their needs. The
online survey is very short – just 9 questions – and researchers are encouraged to take the time to
complete www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ucl/ppi
For any other PPI queries, contact the PPI Manager, Dr Rosamund Yu on Rosamund.Yu@ucl.ac.uk.
Induction Sessions for Patients and the Public
The three NIHR biomedical research centres at UCL/UCLH, UCL/Great Ormond Street and
UCL/Moorfields have joined forces with Macmillan Cancer Support to run induction sessions for patients
and the public who want to know more about getting involved in research. Macmillan Cancer Support has
a successful model of patient induction on cancer research and wants to pilot it in non-cancer-specific
areas. The first session is on 1 December, 10am to 4pm, at Moorfields. The cost is free but places are
limited.
For more information contact PPI Manager Dr Rosamund Yu on Rosamund.Yu@ucl.ac.uk.
Fellowship Application Support Procedure
The role of SLMS Research Facilitators is to coordinate research grant applications and improve
success rates. They have been particularly effective in reviewing Fellowship applications and organising
practice interviews for shortlisted candidates.
Unfortunately not all applicants for fellowships are requesting practice interviews, which results in a lower
success rate.
The SLMS Research Board recommends:
1. Potential fellows discuss applications with the Research Facilitators
2. Potential fellows let the Research Facilitators know (i) the outcome of applications and (ii) the
date of interview as soon as know;
The SLMS Research Facilitators are:
For Wellcome Trust / NIHR schemes – please inform Ornella Garofalo (o.garofalo@ucl.ac.uk)
For MRC / NERC schemes – please inform Duncan Simpson (duncan.simpson@ucl.ac.uk)
For BBSRC and any other funder - please inform Jacob Sweiry (j.sweiry@ucl.ac.uk)
SLMS in the Media
The good life
With long working hours found by the Whitehall II Study to raise the risk of cardiovascular disease,
Professor Mika Kivimaki (UCL Epidemiology and Public Health) says that people working such hours
should be careful to follow healthy diets, exercise and keep their blood pressure, cholesterol levels and
blood sugar within healthy limits. Read: The Observer More...
Myths about our minds
Professor Sophie Scott (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) examines some myths about the brain,
including the common misconception that we only use 10% of our brain's capacity. Read: BBC News
Online and/or BBC Radio 4 Programme
Clock change 'stops outdoor play'
A study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and UCL suggests that not putting the
clocks back would help in the fight against child obesity as children exercise more on longer days. Read:
BBC Online More...
BBC Free Thinking Festival
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences) spoke about the teenage
brain at the BBC Free Thinking Festival on 5th November. The talk will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at
10pm on 23rd November 2011. More: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0144txn
We are what our mums ate
Professor Marcus Pembrey (UCL Institute of Child Health) and Professor Stephan Beck (UCL Cancer
Institute) contribute to the debate about how your environment, and your parents' environment, affects
your health. Read: Observer
Retiring at 68 comes with health warning for us all
Professor Sir Michael Marmot (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health) warns that most Britons will fail to
reach the planned state retirement age of 68 free from disability unless action is taken to tackle health
inequalities. Read: FT
Staff and student success
I would like to congratulate:
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Dr Tiago Branco (UCL Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research), who has won the 2011 Grand
Prize in the annual international competition for The Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology,
for his essay, "The Language of Dendrites." He is being recognized for his outstanding
contributions to research into how single neurons in the brain can compute and convert
information into behaviour.
More: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/slms/slms-news/neuroscience/11110702-branco-essay-prize
Professor Chris Bunker (UCL Division of Medicine) on his election as President of the British
Association of Dermatologists,
Professor Sir Salvador Moncada (UCL Wolfson Institute of Biomedical Research) on the
conferment of the Debrecen Award 2011 for Molecular Medicine. Prof Moncada was elected by
the University of Debrecen, Hungary for the award as international recognition for his
extraordinary contribution to biomedical research.
Dr Jennifer Rohn (Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology), upon her nomination as a short-listed
finalist for the Research Fortnight Achiever of the Year Award for her work on the Science is Vital
Campaign.
Professor Tony Schapira, head of clinical neurosciences at the Royal Free, who is part of an
international collaborative research team which has been awarded £671,000 to research the early
signs of Parkinson’s in the hope of eventually developing a drug to halt or delay its progression.
The grant was awarded by the Centre of Excellence in Neurodegeneration Research (CoEN)
initiative, an international group of research funders including the UK’s Medical Research Council,
who bring global researchers together to further understanding of neurodegenerative diseases.
Up and coming events
Wednesday 16th November 2011, 10.00
ICH OPEN DAY AND POSTER COMPETITION
From 10.00am
ICH POSTER COMPETITION for higher degree students
10.30-11.30am
Coffee and pastries available by the poster displays
From 2.00pm
INSTITUTE OPEN DAY for potential research students
4.00pm
Refreshments on the Balcony
4.30pm
Special Guest Lecture in the Kennedy Lecture Theatre
Speaker and Title to be confirmed
The Guest Lecturer will then award the prizes to the Poster Competition winners.
Followed by Drinks on the Balcony
ALL ARE WELCOME!
Please come along to see the poster displays and to join the Open Day.
Location: Winter Garden, Balcony and Philip Ullmann Wing
22nd November 2011
e-Health: Building the UCL Community
The use of emerging information and communications technology - especially the internet - provides
unique possibilities to improve healthcare, patient safety and public health. Expertise in e-Health at UCL
spans the full range of basic to applied science including expertise in computer science, health
informatics, ethics, epidemiology, health psychology and clinical medicine, providing a real opportunity for
UCL to exploit the research potential offered by these resources.
This one day symposium is an opportunity to find out more about the breadth of e-Health at UCL, create
cross-disciplinary links, and foster collaboration between basic and applied researchers.
For registration and further information please visit www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/domains/populationhealth/eHealth
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: We are inviting poster presentations from the UCL community. Please send
either an abstract or an image of your proposed poster to Elizabeth Murray (elizabeth.murray@ucl.ac.uk)
by 13 November 2011 if you would like your poster displayed.
Location: UCL Institute of Child Health
28 November 2011, 18:00 - 21:00
UCL Lancet Lecture: Economic Growth and Women’s Health Outcomes: A Deepening Divide?
Professor Jayati Ghosh , Jawaharlal Nehru University
One of the most surprising features of the recent rapid income growth in emerging economies is how it
has not been associated with significant improvements in women’s health outcomes. In this lecture
Professor Ghosh will use indicators (such as the infant mortality rate, the maternal mortality rate and the
child sex ratio) to explore the specific experience of India over the past two decades. Some possible
factors influencing the gap between aggregate income growth and women’s health will be considered,
and implications will be drawn for economic and health policies in developing countries in general
Further information and registration details: http://events.ucl.ac.uk/event/event:u1y-gsh6z83f-ibswnl/
28 November 2011
Research on Physical Activity and Health in London: From laboratory to environmental and
population studies
A Symposium & Networking Event organised by UCL’s Physical Activity Research Group (PARG) and the
UCL Population Health Domain
The inaugural PARG Symposium aims to bring together University of London researchers and academics
interested in any aspect of health-related physical activity. By interweaving laboratory sciences,
epidemiology and public health, the built environment and active transportation, and exercise medicine,
this will be a truly cross-disciplinary event. For more information, and details of how to register for this free
event please visit the PARG symposium webpage (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/domains/populationhealth/parg/parg_symposium)
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:
You are invited to submit an abstract for a presentation or poster presentation on any aspects of physical
activity research, implementation, or future research plans.
The deadline for submission of abstracts is 13 November.
Full details are available at (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/domains/populationhealth/parg/parg_symposium)
Tuesday 29 November 2011
FESTSCHRIFT IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR PAT WOO
UCL Institute of Child Heath with UCL Division of Infection and Immunity invite you to join us on
the afternoon of Tuesday 29 November 2011, for a Festschrift Symposium in honour of Pat Woo,
Professor of Paediatric Rheumatology, on the occasion of her retirement. Presenters confirmed
to participate include: Professor Mary Collins, UCL; Professor David Isenberg, UCL; Dr. Dan
Kastner, NIAMS; and Professor Alberto Martini, University of Genova.
The symposium, which is free of charge but requires registration, will be held at the UCL Institute
of Child Health. Please note that space in the lecture theatre is limited and so seats will be
allocated on a first registered first served basis. To register for the symposium and for further
details, please visit http://profwoofestschrift.eventbrite.com
30th November 2011, 13.10-14.00
Eastman Dental Institute
Phage dUTPases control transfer of virulence genes by an oncogenic G protein like mechanism
José R Penadés, Instituto Investigación en Ganadería de Montaña, Castellón, Spain
Location: lecture room L2
Contact: e.allan@ucl.ac.uk
Tuesday 6th December 2011, 17.30-20.00
UCL Medical School – Medical Education seminar
Conceptions of learning and leadership - implications for education and leadership development
in a research-intensive university
Dr Anita Berlin
Location: Wilkins Garden Room, UCL
The seminar will start with an introduction to the exhibition 'The Slave-owners of Bloomsbury' by one of
the curators, Kate Donington. After Dr Berlin's presentation there will be drinks and networking
opportunities in the South Cloisters where the exhibition is on display.
There will also be a festive Christmas market and concert in the Front Quad from 5.00-8.00pm,
have a mince pie, some mulled wine and enjoy the whole evening.
Further information/registration: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/2361806226?ref=elink"
Friday 9th-Sunday 11th December 2011
Ron Britton Today Conference
This year’s Psychoanalysis Unit December conference will focus on the work of Ron Britton. As a UCL
graduate in medicine and a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst in the British Psychoanalytical
Society who has spoken and conducted clinical seminars throughout the world, Ron Britton has made a
series of major and original contributions in several areas by developing thinking on several topics
including:
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Triangular space and the “Third Position”
The psychic structure of belief including his understanding of fundamentalism and idolatry
The understanding of Hysteria and the primal scene
PS(n) >D(n)>PS(n+1).....D(n+1) – that is to say to states of mind marked by an ongoing
dialectical process of “un-integration” to “integration” to “de-integration” to “aspiration” and back
again
Narcissistic structures –particularly hyper-subjectivity and hyper-objectivity (or in other words
thin-skinned & thick-skinned narcissistic disorders)
The need for agreement and its potential for malignant misunderstanding. His interesting idea,
which he considers his most important clinical observation, is that at least in some states the
subjectively felt need for agreement is inversely proportional to the expectation of understanding
Speakers will include: Liana Chaves, Peter Fonagy, Mary Target, and David Taylor.
In addition Ron Britton and David Tuckett will hold a dialogue on some of Britton’s key ideas in
discussion with the audience.
CALL FOR PAPERS
If you would like to submit a paper, to be presented in a parallel session on Saturday please send us an
abstract of 300 words setting out your main argument and how you will approach it. You could write on
any aspect of Britton’s work that has influenced you or you wish to discuss but we are particularly keen to
see papers on the six topics mentioned above. Please submit abstracts by 1 st October 2011.
SEMINARS
Small group clinical seminars will be offered (led by leading UK analysts) on Friday 9th December from
6.00-7.30pm. An additional clinical meeting will be held earlier on the Friday afternoon (2.00–5.00pm)
when David Tuckett will hold an additional extended clinical seminar designed to look at the core
components of psychoanalytic technique and ways of reflecting on and conceptualizing one’s own
technique.
Confirmed leaders of the Friday evening seminar will include David Bell, Catalina Bronstein, Dana
Birksted Breen, Claire Cripwell, Betty Joseph, Priscilla Roth and David Taylor.
For further information and booking, please visit:
www.ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis/events/conferences/conferences-forthcoming.php or contact
n.harding@ucl.ac.uk
14th December 2011, 16.30
Motor-Sensory Learning of Foreign Speech
Anna Simmonds
Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Lab (C3NL) and MRC Clinical Sciences Centre,
Imperial College London
Location: The Levinsky Room, Philip Ullmann Wing, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street,
London, WC1N 1EH
New starters in SLMS
New Starters in SLMS (for the period 31st October - 6th November)
Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit at UCL: Dr Dino Sejdinovic, Research Associate.
SLMS Research Support Centre: Dr Matthew Wakelin, Neuroscience Strategic Coordinator.
UCL Cancer Institute: Dr Laila Cancian, Research Associate; Ms Anja Hafemann, Marie Curie Trainee;
Dr Anna Karpathakis, Clinical Training Fellow; Ms Jayeta Saxena, Research Technician.
UCL Division of Biosciences: Ms Anusha Mishra, Research Associate; Dr Ricardo Neto Da Silva,
Research Associate; Dr Manavendra Pathania, Research Associate; Dr Theodora Sideri, Research
Associate; Dr Katherine Smollett, Research Associate; Dr Mingyao Yang, Research Associate.
UCL Division of Medicine: Dr Nishkantha Arulkumaran, Clinical Research Fellow.
UCL Division of Population Health: Mrs Barbara Carter-Szatynska, Administrator; Mr Craig Knott,
Research Assistant; Ms Alison Moody, Research Assistant; Dr Amanda Sinai, Clinical Research
Associate; Miss Rhian Tait, Research Assistants.
UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences: Ms Alice Anokhina, Postgraduate Teaching
Assistant; Ms Laura De Moliere; Dr Judit Druks, Principal Teaching Fellow; Prof David Green,
Professorial Research Fellow; Dr Paul Marshall, Lecturer; Dr Tali Sharot, Research Fellow; Prof Elizabeth
Young-Bruehl, Visiting Professor.
UCL Eastman Dental Institute: Mr Robert Marshall; Dr Wendy Xia, Research Associate.
UCL Faculty of Medical Sciences : Ms Emily Govan, Executive Assistant.
UCL Institute for Women's Health: Dr Catherine James, Clinical Research Fellow.
UCL Institute of Child Health: Miss Hortensja Brzoska , Research Assistant; Dr Chela James, Research
Associate; Dr Francesco Lescai, Senior Research Associate; Dr Louise Ocaka, Research Associate; Mr
Alexandros Onoufriadis, Research Assistant.
UCL Institute of Neurology: Dr Davina Hensman, Clinical Research Associate; Mr Torben Schneider,
Research Associate.
UCL Institute of Ophthalmology: Miss Natalie Hudson, Research Assistant.
Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at UCL: Dr Carine Dalle , Senior Research Associate.