UCL SCHOOL OF LIFE AND MEDICAL
SCIENCES
(incorporating UCL MEDICAL SCHOOL)
SLMS BULLETIN – 5 DECEMBER 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 Professor Jon Driver
2 Update: UCLPartners: 29.11.11
3 Staff/student success
4 SLMS in the media
5 Future UCL events
6 New starters in SLMS
SLMS STAFF NEWS
Professor Jon Driver
Our community is devastated at the news of the death Jon Driver, Professor of Cognitive
Neuroscience.
Jon was a truly exceptional neuroscientist, a talented leader and hugely valued colleague who
played a pivotal role in the acquisition of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre.
Our thoughts are with his family and many friends as we all struggle to come to terms with this
tragic loss.
Update: UCLPartners
There have been a number of developments at UCLPartners (UCLP) since the last update. Further
information is available in the UCLP Update (November 2011) by David Fish, Managing Director of
UCLP. I will continue to circulate David’s monthly update in this bulletin.
Staff and student success
I would like to congratulate:



Professor Roger Lemon, UCL Institute of Neurology, who has been elected to the
Council of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
UCL’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging Research Fellow, Dr Klaus Wunderlich,
who has won the Lloyd’s “Science of Risk” Prize in the category of Behavioural Risk. His
paper was also voted “Best Overall Paper”.
Helen Davy, a UCL BSc Speech Sciences Graduate (2011) has been awarded the
Student Project Prize of the British Aphasiology Society for her project entitled ‘Getting into
shape: The effect of Shape Coding on the spoken language production of a man with
chronic aphasia’. More
SLMS IN THE MEDIA
Abused children's brain similar to combat troops, scans show
Research by Dr Eamon McCrory (UCL Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology) shows that
children exposed to family violence show the same pattern of activity in their brains as combat
soldiers. Read: The Times (£) More: Daily Mail Wired Reuters Mirror Huffington Post UCL press
release
The Life Scientific
Professor Uta Frith (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) talks about her pioneering work on
autism and dyslexia. Listen: BBC Radio 4 The Life Scientific
Denied to thousands: the dementia lifeline that gave me my mother back
A detailed look at the availability of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST), a course of activity
sessions for dementia sufferers developed by Dr Aimee Spector (UCL Clinical, Educational &
Health Psychology). Read: Daily Mail
Researchers move closer to finding successful drugs to treat Huntington’s disease
TRACK-HD investigators, including UCL Institute of Neurology researchers have identified a set
of objective, validated measures that can be used to assess new treatments for Huntington’s
disease (HD). The study, published last week in The Lancet Neurology, should increase the
likelihood of success of future trials of new drugs to delay the onset and reduce the severity of HD.
Read
Women doctors will soon outnumber men
"Although women make up the majority of the medical student population they are still under-
represented at the top”, says Professor Jane Dacre (UCL Medical School). Read: Daily Mail,
More: BBC Radio 4 Today, Independent More...
Science Weekly: Your beating heart
Dr Kevin Fong (UCL Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology) talks about the physiology,
chemistry and dynamics of this remarkable organ. Listen: Guardian
Don't blame older folks for NHS crisis
The NHS may be in trouble, but those who blame our ‘ageing population’ are missing the big
picture, says Professor Steve Iliffe (UCL Primary Care & Population Health). Read: Morning Star
Brawling ex-con to painter, after a stroke
Dr Mark Lythgoe (UCL Centre for Biomedical Imaging) and Professor Sophie Scott (UCL Institute
of Cognitive Neuroscience) on how strokes can change personality and behaviour. Read: The
Times (£)
Muslim medics boycott lectures on Darwin and evolution
While only a minority, an increasing number of undergraduates are refusing to attend lectures on
evolution, says Professor Steve Jones (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment). Read: The
Sunday Times (£) More: Daily Mail
On your head: A work prenup? It’s how to manage expectations
Is a "prenup" a cynical agreement or a sensible arrangement? The answer is in the contract, says
Professor Adrian Furnham (UCL Health Psychology). Read: The Sunday Times (£)
Medical masterpiece: world's first synthetic windpipe
Professor Alexander Seifalian (UCL Research Department of General Surgery) on the role
nanotechnology played in the development of the world's first synthetic windpipe. Read: Guardian
The teenage brain
Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore gave a talk on the teenage brain at the BBC Free Thinking
Festival, broadcast on Radio 3 on 23rd November 2011, Listen:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/r3arts or
http://sites.google.com/site/blakemorelab/translational-work-and-recent-media-links1/listentobbcradio3sfreethinkingfestivalofideas2011withsarah-jayneblakemore
University Challenge
UCL play the University of Warwick for a place in the quarter-finals of the popular quiz University
Challenge. Watch: BBC2 'University Challenge'
FUTURE UCL EVENTS
Wednesday 7th December 2011, 12.45 (for 13.00)
Grand Round
Lucy Bell, Daniel Swerdlow, Gordon Stewart , “Something fishy on the Gloucester Road”
Clinical Pharmacology I
Mark George, Daniel Marks and John Martin, “Is the autopsy dead?”
Clinical Pharmacology II
Chair: Reecha Sofat
Location: Lecture Theatre 2, Cruciform Building
Lunch Provided in B01
8 December 2011, 17.00-18.30
Yale UCL Collaborative Senior Scientist Lecture 2011-2012
Guidance of vascular patterning: lessons from the nervous system
Anne Eichmann, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Cardiovascular Research Center, Yale
University School of Medicine
Location: Darwin Lecture Theatre | University College London
Lecture to be followed by a wine reception in the Cruciform Cafe, Cruciform Building, Gower Street
For more information about Yale UCL Collaborative visit: www.yale-ucl.org/.
The lecture series receives generous support from SHM Productions: www.shm-ltd.co.uk.
Friday December 9th, 18.30 (drinks from 18.00h)
UCL Science Society Seminar
Location: SOUTH WING COUNCIL ROOM
By Mark Thomas
Professor of Evolutionary Genetics, Div of Biosciences, Faculty of Life Sciences And the title of his
talk is:
The Origins of Lactase Persistence and Dairying in Europe
Most Europeans take drinking milk for granted; it’s the everyday consumption of an everyday drink.
But for most adult humans, indeed, for most adult mammals, milk is very far from an everyday
drink. Milk is something that we have specifically evolved to be able to consume in the relatively
recent past. The ability to digest the sugar in milk is called Lactase Persistence and Darwin’s
engine of evolutionary change, natural selection, has probably worked harder on this trait than on
any other biological characteristic of Europeans in the last 10,000 years. In this presentation we
will see how Genetics, Archaeology, Anthropology, Physiology, ancient DNA and computer
simulations can be combined to understand where, when and how Lactase persistence co-evolved
with the culture of dairying in Europeans.
All are welcome to attend and to enjoy a drink before the seminar.
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:






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
1st October 2011.
SEMINARS
Small group clinical seminars will be offered (led by leading UK analysts) on Friday 9 th 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
21 February 2012 (14.00-17.00)
UCL Adolescent Health & Development workshop
If you are a researcher or clinician interested in adolescent health or development, you are
strongly encouraged to attend the initial Adolescent Health & Development workshop.
This initiative aims to establish 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
NEW STARTERS IN SLMS
New Starters in SLMS (for the period 21st – 27th November)
UCL Cancer Institute: Miss Attia Ashraf, Research Technician; Miss Karen Menezes, Research
Technician.
UCL Division of Biosciences: Dr Francois Lapraz, Research Associate; Mrs Elizabeth SuttonKlein, Laboratory Assistant.
UCL Division of Medicine: Mr Emmanouil Lazarides, Senior Information Analyst/Statistian; Miss
Mary Mitchell, NICOR Audit Project Manager.
UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences: Miss Suzanne Bow, Teaching Fellow; Dr
Stephanie Lazzaro, Teaching Fellow.
UCL Eastman Dental Institute: Miss Heather Finch, Administrative Assistant.
UCL Institute of Child Health: Mrs Esther Huntbach, Centre Administrator; Miss Cassandra Nan,
Research Assistant.
UCL Institute of Neurology: Miss Joanne Lau, Senior Research Technician.
UCL Institute of Ophthalmology: Dr Victoria Tovell, Research Associate.
Sent by Professor Sir John Tooke - please send any replies to viceprovosthealth@ucl.ac.uk