Announcements

Professor Lord Darzi has accepted appointment as interim Chair of a new Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) Steering Board with immediate effect. His appointment is announced jointly by the Rector, Lord Tugendhat (Chairman of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust) and Ruth Carnall (Chief Executive of the London Strategic Health Authority).

The AHSC is the partnership between Imperial College London and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, established in 2007. The AHSC serves to integrate the activities of the College and the Trust across teaching, research and healthcare provision. Strong cross-links exist between the two organisations: the Trust is represented on the College’s Council and Management Board, and the College is represented on the Trust’s Board.

The new Steering Board for the AHSC has been formed following the appointment of new leaders in the Faculty of Medicine and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust over recent months. The Principal of the Faculty of Medicine and the Chief Executive of the Trust are the accounting officers with budgetary responsibility for their respective areas of the AHSC and will be members of the Steering Board. Both the College and the Trust remain fully committed to nurturing and enhancing closer integration between themselves in order to deliver the objectives of the AHSC.

The Steering Board has been commissioned to undertake a review evaluating the success of the AHSC since its foundation and to advise on its future direction. The Steering Board will submit its report to the Council of Imperial College London, the Board of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Strategic Health Authority in the autumn.

Lord Darzi will also consult with other academic centres and healthcare providers about developing and growing teaching, research and healthcare links for the benefit of a broader network of healthcare providers in North West London.

Lord Darzi will retain his position as Chairman of the Institute for Global Health Innovation at Imperial.
Membership of the AHSC Steering Board will include:

Chair: Professor Lord Darzi

Members:
– Chief Executive, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
– Medical Director, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
– Member of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Board
– Deputy Rector, Imperial College London
– Principal of the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London
– Senior Clinical Academic, Imperial College London

Rodney Eastwood
College Secretary

Read Academic Health Science Centre in full

The Imperial website will be involved in a worldwide test on 8 June to trial the next phase of the Internet – ‘World IPv6 Day’. This twenty-four hour test window is being organised by the Internet Society to assist with preparations for the impending exhaustion of the world’s available Internet Protocol (IP) addresses – the network addresses used by computers and other devices for communication over the internet.

The solution to the depleted pool of IP addresses is the IPv6 network protocol which will gradually replace the existing version of IP and support a virtually unlimited number of devices on the Internet. The transition to IPv6 is underway and on 8 June Google, Facebook, Yahoo and many universities and other organisations will offer their content over to IPv6, creating conditions that expose internet users to IPv6 on a larger scale than ever before to reveal problems that may occur.

The main Imperial website will be taking part in the trial.

Find out more about how you might be affected on the day and use a very simple test in advance to see if you are likely to encounter problems here.

Read Imperial trialling next phase of internet – 8 June in full