Author: Medicine Notifications

Lecture recordings

The College provides Panopto to support recording of course lectures. While not obligatory, there are many good reasons to use this technology and the College encourages staff to make use of its capabilities.

Panopto is a flexible and easy-to-use platform that allows Imperial College staff to record audio, video, PowerPoint presentations and capture secondary sources e.g. visualiser. It can be used to record lectures, module introductions, assessment feedback and a range of other multimedia content.

Find out more and how to get started 

 

New SharePoint sites

The Faculty of Medicine has released two new SharePoint sites designed to provide all Faculty of Medicine staff with access to a central key contacts list and process repository. You will need to use Office 365 login (collegeusername@ic.ac.uk) to access these sites.

Key Contacts

Purpose:

To provide one central list of key safety and other defined roles to ensure that this information is recorded, updated and reviewed and can be updated in one source. (more…)

Invitation to FABRICELL Centre Launch

Staff and researchers within the Faculty of Medicine are invited to the launch of FABRICELL, a new joint research centre between Imperial College London and King’s College London.

8 September, 2-5:30pm, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus

Guest Speakers:

Professor Jack Szostak, Nobel Prize Medicine 2009,  Harvard Medical School

Professor Lee Cronin, Regius Professor of Chemistry, University of Glasgow

Professor Patricia Bassereau, Institut Curie, Paris

To attend (ticket only event) please register for free on Eventrbrite.

For further information, please contact Prof Oscar Ces

 

Medicine Teaching Awards 2017


Since 2003, Imperial College School of Medicine, together with Imperial College School of Medicine Student’s Union, have held an annual awards programme recognising the valued contributions of clinical teachers and support staff in delivering its undergraduate medicine course.

Teaching was recognized with the following awards:

  • Teaching Excellence Award – Clinical Teachers
  • Teaching Excellence Award – Non-Clinical Teachers
  • Teaching Fellow Teaching Excellence Award
  • Distinguished Teacher Award
  • Supporting the Student Experience Award
  • Associate Dean’s Award

Find the full list of this year’s winners on the School of Medicine website.

Imperial College London Offsite Working Policy

Staff, students and visiting research workers who are carrying out activities which are sanctioned by the College, but which take place in locations over which the College does not exert direct control, are subject to the requirements of the College Offsite Working Policy. This includes hosted research and conferences as well as field work.

The safety of such workers must be considered in the same way that it would be if they were working on College premises, and they may need to register for insurance cover and health clearance/vaccinations. More information can be found on the Offsite Working web pages which include a comprehensive travel flowchart linking to relevant advice and documentation that might be needed.

Brain scanning study in ex-smokers and quitting smokers – participants wanted

The Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London at the Hammersmith Hospital, London is studying how the brain and hormones control eating and addictive behaviours in the GHADD study.

Volunteers will have functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans, and an infusion of 2 different hormones to see how the brain responds.

The hormones have been safely administered in many previous studies.

There is a health screening visit, followed by 3 study visits.

To take part you must be aged 18 to 60 years old, have given up smoking cigarettes within the last year, or be just about to give up smoking cigarettes or vaping e-cigarettes.

You will NOT be able to take part if you:

  • are vegetarian, vegan, gluten or lactose intolerant
  • have a pacemaker, or some types of metal implants and clips
  • are claustrophobic, pregnant or breast feeding

You will be paid expenses including travel costs.

Please check our quick online screening tool on www.ghadd.co.uk to see if you may be eligible

If interested, please contact us at: 020 7594 6648 or ghadd@imperial.ac.uk

Approved by Local Ethics Research Committee (REC 15/LO/1041)

Monthly update from the Institute of Global Health Innovation


Recent activities

The first Global Health Forum of the year took place on 20 October on Big Data Decision Support. The event discussed big data in medicine and healthcare and the best ways we can use what is available. Watch the full event here.

On 17 November we had our second Global Health Forum focusing on ‘Water and health’. Speakers included Dr Alexander Webb, Simon De Stercke, Dr Pauline Scheelbeek and Dr Michael Templeton covering a range in issues related to water such as salinity in drinking water and sanitation.

Latest IGHI Blog articles

Practitioner and patient-targeted interventions to address excessive antibiotic use

By Dr Olga Kostopoulou, Reader in Medical Decision Making and Professor Brendan Delaney, Chair in Medical Informatics and Decision Making at Imperial College London

Introducing ‘Exosonic’, a new device to combat pancreatic cancer

By Student Challenges Competition 2015/16 Audience Choice Award winners, Antonios Chronopoulos and Tyler Lieberthal

What is the role of social media in health policy?

By Sabine Vuik, Policy Fellow and Head of Analytics, Centre for Health Policy, Institute of Global Health Innovation

The State of Diabetes in 2016

By Professor Desmond Johnston, Vice Dean (Education) for the Faculty of Medicine atImperial College London

BIOTOPE (BIOmarkers TO diagnose PnEumonia)

By Dr John O’Donoghue, Senior Lecturer in eHealth & Deputy Director of Imperial’s Global eHealth Unit

Putting TB to the test: My journey so far

By Harriet Gliddon, winner of the IGHI Student Challenges Competition 2015-16

THET Annual Conference – Rethinking International Health Partnerships

By Hamdi Issa, PhD Candidate, Institute of Global Health Innovation

Director for the BDAU interviews the founder of the Open Data Science Conference in London

By Joshua Symons, Policy Fellow, Big Data & Analyitcal Unit, Centre for Health Policy


Write for us

We are always on the lookout for new bloggers.  If you would like to write for our blog, please get in touch with the IGHI Communications Manager, Jo, at j.seed@imperial.ac.uk

Nikita Rathod
Communications and Events Assistant
IGHI

BSc Prize presentation evening

Students who completed their BSc in the 2015-16 year enjoyed an evening of prize-giving at the Drewe Lecture Theatre, Charing Cross Campus on Wednesday 9 November.

They were competing for the Charles Power Prize (for Best Overall Performance in the BSc), as well as the Evelyn de Rothschild Prize (for Best BSc Project). Three students were in competition for each prize, and each gave a 10-minute presentation on their chosen topic, which was followed with five minutes of questions from a distinguished panel of BSc Pathway Director judges and members of the audience.

Dr Sophie Rutschmann, Dr Mark Sullivan and Professor Barbara Bain were tasked with judging the Charles Power Prize, and awarded First Place to Daniel Ang Jia for his Immunity and Infection presentation entitled, ‘Vaccines: lessons in problem solving with basic science’. Second Place went to Janaki Desai for her Pharmacology-based ‘Do antidepressants actually work?’ presentation. Third Place was awarded to Florence Mouy, for ‘Myocardial Hibernation’ in the field of Cardiovascular Science.

The Evelyn de Rothschild Prize for Best BSc Project was judged by Professor Alison McGregor, Dr Chris John and Professor Louise Donnelly. After the three presentations, it was Sophie Glover who came out on top with First Place for her Neuroscience and Mental Health project, ‘Understanding the mechanisms behind ketogenic diet in gliobastoma multiforme’. A second appearance from Daniel Ang Jia was his project, ‘Immune thrombocytopenia and the MIF surrounding it’, based again in Immunity and Infection, which came in second. This was followed in Third Place by a Reproductive and Developmental Sciences project entitled, ‘The Use of Human Donor Milk in England: A Descriptive Study’ by Rita Marciano Alves Mousinho.

Dorrit Pollard-Davey
Curriculum Assistant (Educational Quality)
Imperial College School of Medicine

World Mental Health Day fundraising

To mark the World Mental Health Day on Monday October 10, Federica Amati and Pirkko Carmack organised a charity cake sale on Wednesday 12 October at 12.00 in our seminar room, to raise money for Mind mental health charity. We managed to raise £151.60 which was a great result.

It was also a very sweet start to our departmental meeting for a great cause, and also an occasion to remember to look after our own mental health.

We also reminded to Take 10 Minutes and focus on the importance of Mental Health.

E-learning team win the prestigious Brandon Hall Award for Pharmacology BSc e-module

The e-learning team in collaboration with the Pharmacology BSc won the prestigious Brandon Hall Silver Award in the “Best Results of a Learning Program” category for their e-learning modules, which are delivered to the Medical and Biomedical Science students opting for the Pharmacology BSc pathway.

The design of the e-learning modules was initiated strategically using the Blended Learning Design Tool (BLEnDT©), which identifies the learning outcomes that lend themselves to interactive self-guided online learning, following an Instructionist approach. The tool also identifies the learning outcomes that are best suited for face-to-face delivery or online delivery following a Constructivist/Collaborative approach.

The animations in the e-learning modules were creatively designed to have a bit of a 3D feel (see screenshots). The lower-order learning objectives (such as recall and list) were covered within e-learning modules, giving face-to-face teaching the scope to focus on the higher-order learning objectives (e.g. critical thinking, evaluation). The impact of this e-module on student engagement has also recently been published (BMC Medical Education (2016) 16:195).

Students’ comments

“because we had already been exposed to it [the receptors] before in the e-course, when we went over it again it was much easier to understand”

“the most efficient approach is to have the eLearning beforehand and then you have a contingency tutorial to check or to ask any questions or to briefly skim over it”

“so often you turn up to a lecture and they jump in so far beyond your knowledge… And you can’t ask effective questions because you don’t know the fundamentals to start with”

Team Members:

  • E-learning – Akram Ameen, Taylor Bennie, Ashish Hemani, Maria Toro-Troconis, Lisa Carrier
  • Pharmacology BSc – Sohag Saleh, Chris John

Contact – elearning.medicine@imperial.ac.uk

Ashish Hemani
eLearning Programme Manager
Faculty Education Office (Medicine)

Apollo Therapeutics launch

The official Imperial launch of the Apollo Therapeutics took place on 6 October.  Apollo Therapeutics is a collaboration between three global pharmaceutical companies (GSK, J&J and AZ) and three Universities – Imperial, Cambridge and UCL.  This is the first time that three global pharmaceutical companies and the tech transfer offices of three world leading universities has come together to form a joint enterprise resulting in a truly innovative venture james-sterling-speaking-2aimed driving forward therapeutic innovation.  It is a £40 million fund to drive therapeutic innovation aims to to significantly improve the speed and potential of university research being translated into novel medicines. Apollo will support translational research, shaping projects at an early stage to optimise discovery and delivery of new breakthrough treatments for onward development. 

The launch event saw more than 75 Imperial academics, industry collaborators and Apollo representatives coming tog ether.  The event was opened by Professor James Stirling and the scheme was introduced by Ian Tomlinson (Apollo Therapeutics Chairman) and Richard Butt (Apollo Therapeutics CEO).  A panel Q&A session with The Apollo Leadership team together with Professor Jonathan Weber and Dr Mene Pangalos (‎Executive Vice President at AstraZeneca) discussed the opportunities for the College presented by the venture.

A call for biologics proposals is currently open; for more information about the scheme please see: http://apollotherapeutics.com/

Dr Sarah Wagstaffe
Head of Research Strategy
Faculty of Medicine

Wellcome Trust Institute Strategic Support Fund

The College has been awarded £5M from Wellcome for the next five years, continuing the Institute Strategic Support Fund which has been instrumental in supporting wellcome-logo-blackbiomedical research across the College over the past 5 years.  The scheme has previously funded numerous internal funding streams targeting the enhancement of multidisciplinary research, the support of early career researchers, strategic initiatives enhancing support for priority themes and public engagement activities. Through strategic allocation of £7.5M funding since 2011/2012, the scheme has supported more than 380 investigators through 185 awards across the College and in turn leveraged a further £53M in follow-on funding.

In 2016/2017, the ISSF scheme will support Clinical Research Careers through Global Health Fellowships and Clinician Researchers schemes and non-clinical researchers through Faculty Fellowships.  The scheme will also support key initiatives to promote collaboration and will ensure the College is supporting an inclusive research environment. All opportunities for funding will be advertised on the internal funding opportunities webpage.

Dr Sarah Wagstaffe
Head of Research Strategy
Faculty of Medicine

Mr Chris Lattimer wins Phlebosophy award in Venice

Mr Chris Lattimer wins Phlebosophy award in VeniceGala dinner celebrations after the congress. Left to right. Professor Giuseppe Andreozzi (Padova), Dr Evi Kalodiki (Imperial College London), Dr Christopher Lattimer (Imperial College London)Preview Changes & Dr Sergio Gianesini (University of Ferrara).

The three prize winners at the international inaugural Phlebosophy congress 23-24 September 2016 were Dr Roberto Parisi (San Giovanni e Paolo Hospital, Venice), Christopher Lattimer and Sergio Gianesini. Each received a brass paperweight inspired by the ancient Athenian tetradrachm, 5th century BC. The meeting was held at the Centro culturale Don Orione Artigianelli in Venice with Dimitrios Kontothanassis (Istituto Flebologico Italiano, Ferrara) as president who awarded the prizes.

During his lecture, Christopher Lattimer PhD proposed a theory as to why some patients present late in the course of their venous disease. “Patients without pain do not have the signals required to undergo anti-gravitational activities like compression or elevation or to seek help. It is these patients who do not experience pain on dependency which are the ones that progress to venous ulceration.”

Institute of Global Health Innovation update

News

IGHI hosted a forum to discuss and disseminate research into diabetes and infection.
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/centres/globalhealth/newssummary/news_13-6-2016-10-22-2 

Leaving the EU poses ‘critical threat’ to NHS.
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_7-6-2016-14-23-2

New Patient Safety programme launching for busy healthcare professionals.
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/centres/globalhealth/newssummary/news_25-4-2016-17-13-20

IGHI launch new Centre to bring together health researchers in Africa .
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/centres/globalhealth/newssummary/news_25-5-2016-10-32-24  (more…)

Professor Beate Kampmann nominated to join Expert Database for Outstanding Female Academics

Professor Beate Kampmann has been nominated by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to join AcademiaNet – Expert Database for Outstanding Female Academics.

Professor Beate Kampmann The Robert Bosch Stiftung, in cooperation with Spektrum der Wissenschaft (Nature Publishing Group), has set up this exclusive expert database in 2010. It was launched by German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and it is the only Web site of its kind that shows profiles only of outstandingly qualified women who are best in their field. They all have been nominated by highly recognized science and research institutions. To date, more than 1,700 profiles of female top-class researchers of all disciplines are in the database.

The website (www.academia-net.org) is supplemented by editorials such as up-to-date news reports, scientific articles and interviews with female scientists and has registered over one million clicks to date. The high number of visitors to the database is not the only indication of its success: all four female scientists awarded the Leibniz Prize in 2014 – the most important research prize in Germany – are members of AcademiaNet.

Professor Robert Wilkinson recognised by South African Medical Research Council

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) paid tribute to some of the country’s leading medical researchers at its prestigious SAMRC Scientific Merit Awards in Cape Town.  The esteemed President’s Award as well as the Platinum, Gold and Silver Awards were presented to scientists whose work has had a monumental impact on health science in South Africa.

Professor Wilkinson, Senior Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine, received the Gold Award on 29 October. His work has focused on clinical and immunological aspects of tuberculosis – particularly in the context of HIV infection.

Find out more on the Scientific Merit Awards website.

Faculty of Medicine awards update

Mr Chris Lattimer wins second prize at the 16th Annual European Venous Forum Meeting

Prize_LattimerMr Lattimer collected the award on behalf of his team at the EVF Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, for their presentation; ‘Increasing thigh compression pressure correlates with a reduction in the venous drainage index of air plethysmography.’

This highly competitive award has provided a grant of £1,500 for Mr Lattimer to present his team’s work on venous drainage at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Venous Forum, to be held in Orlando, Florida, next February. This is acknowledged to be the most prestigious venous meeting globally.

Dr Mick Jones receives multiple teaching awards in 2014/15

Dr Mick JonesDr Jones, Reader in Molecular Medicine in the Department of Medicine and Course Director of the MSc in Molecular Medicine, picked up numerous teaching awards this year:

  • The top prize at the Department of Medicine Teaching Awards, 2015 for Outstanding Contribution to Education
  • The awards for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Supervision and the Top Contributor to Teaching based on the 2014 Teaching Hours Survey
  • The award for the Best Teaching for Postgraduates at the 2015 Student Academic Choice Awards

Professor Charlotte Bevan appointed to the Executive Committee of the BACR

Professor of Cancer Biology, Charlotte Bevan will take up the new role at the British Association for Cancer Research in the autumn of this year.

Professor Simon Taylor-Robinson elected to Royal College of Physicians Council

In July Simon Taylor-Robinson, Professor of Translation Medicine in the Department of Medicine, was elected to the Council of the Royal College of Physicians.

Dr Brijesh Patel elected to European Society of Intensive Care Medicine NEXT committee

Dr Patel, a Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, has been elected to the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine NEXT (Network of EXecptional Trainees) committee.

In June he was also awarded a 2015 American Thoracic Society abstract scholarship.

 

FoM Summer School keynote speakers

All Faculty of Medicine students and staff are warmly invited to our forthcoming Revolutions in Biomedicine Summer Lecture Series.

Each of the lectures will be followed by a drinks reception. There is no attendance fee for Faculty of Medicine students and staff, but we do ask that you register beforehand to help us plan catering.

If you have any questions about the lectures, please contact Jim Osborne (james.osborne@imperial.ac.uk).

 

Bloom

 

PROFESSOR SIR STEVE BLOOM
Interfering Factor to World Drug
Blockbuster – Can Imperial Manage?
Monday 29 June 2015, 17.00-18.00
G34, Sir Alexander Fleming Building

 

Kampmann

 

PROFESSOR BEATE KAMPMANN
Vaccines, Immunity and Global Child Health
Wednesday 1 July 2015, 17.30-18.30
G34, Sir Alexander Fleming Building

 

Darzi

 

PROFESSOR THE LORD ARA DARZI OF DENHAM PC KBE FRS
Innovation in Healthcare
Thursday 2 July 2015, 17.30-18.30
LT311, Huxley Building

 

Rankin

 

PROFESSOR SARA RANKIN
Story of a Paper: Regenerative Pharmacology – Teaching the Body to Repair Itself
Monday 13 July 2015,
17.30-18.30 (registration opens at 17.15)
G34, Sir Alexander Fleming Building

NIHR Clinical Research Network helps to recruit first global patient in surgical research study

From L-R: Mr Naim Fakih, Donna McLean, Fatima Akbar, Mr Ahmed Ahmed, and Mr Christos Tsiornis
From L-R: Mr Naim Fakih, Donna McLean, Fatima Akbar, Mr Ahmed Ahmed, and Mr Christos Tsiornis

The NIHR Clinical Research Network, which supports researchers and clinicians across Imperial College and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, have helped recruit the first global patient into a surgical study. The trial, which is being conducted by Mr Ahmed Ahmed, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Bariatric Surgery, will compare types of surgical stapler, to investigate whether a newer device will be more efficient and reduce complications for patients.

For more information on the Clinical Research Network and how they can help you, visit their website, follow them at @nihrcrn_nwldn or email kate.wighton@nihr.ac.uk.

Kate Wighton
Communications Manager
NIHR Clinical Research Network (North West London)

Antimicrobial Research Collaborative (ARC) Early Career Research Fellowships

The Antimicrobial Research Collaborative (ARC) is a new Imperial network of researchers, primary care specialists and allied health professionals established to advance basic research in AMR and to translate research to novel prevention strategies and healthcare interventions. The ARC Early Career Research Fellowships scheme aims to attract and retain the most promising early career scientists to undertake multidisciplinary research projects in antimicrobial research within the College.

How to apply?

Full details of the ARC Early Career Research Fellowships and how to apply will be announced on 5th June, and will be available from: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/funding-opportunities/internal-funding-opportunities/issf/ There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Fellowships at the ARC launch on 5th June (please see https://eventbrite.co.uk/event/17028140627/ for details of the event and to register). The closing date for ARC Fellowship applications will be 5pm on 3rd July 2015.

PG Connections June Event: Professor David Nutt – Why Scientists Must Also be Revolutionaries

Dear Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Students and Staff,

I would like to invite you to our next PG Connections Event which is on Wednesday 10 June at 17:30 (registration opens at 17.00) in Room G16 in the Alexander Fleming Building (South Kensington Campus). The highlight of the event will be a talk from Professor David Nutt, titled ‘Why Scientists Must Also be Revolutionaries’. As with all PG Connections events, the talk will be followed by a complimentary drinks reception.

Abstract

Most people think that the biggest problem to scientific and medical advances is the failure of funders, governments and the public to understand the value of what they do. I will demonstrate with examples from my own research career and those of others, that scientists themselves are often the enemy of progress and argue that we should always be challenging ourselves to think more creatively about the future goals of our disciplines.

About the Speaker

profnuttProfessor Nutt is the Edmond J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and Head of the Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial. In addition to his many career achievements (including sitting on a number of high profile NHS and governmental committees), he has published over 400 original research papers, a similar number of reviews and book chapters, eight government reports on drugs and 27 books including Drugs Without the Hot Air, which won the Transmission Book Prize in 2014.

The event is free to Faculty of Medicine postgraduate students and staff. However, we do ask that you register in advance to help us assess numbers for catering purposes: https://imperialmed.wufoo.eu/forms/pg-connections-10-june-2015/


Andrea Almeida
PGT Admin
Faculty Education Office (Medicine)