Blog posts

Trainee Publication Prize

LaycockCongratulations to Dr Helen Laycock (Clinical Fellow/Anaesthetic Registrar doing a PhD in APMIC), who was awarded the 2014 Trainee Publication Prize by the Faculty of Pain Medicine (Royal College of Anaesthetists) for a paper published with Dr Istvan Nagy and Dr Carsten Bantel from APMIC.

The paper was titled “Peripheral mechanisms of burn injury-associated pain” and was published in the European Journal of Pharmacology in 2013. Dr Laycock presented a short summary of the paper at the Faculty of Pain Medicines Annual Meeting on the 14th November.

WW1 surgeons could do little for amputees’ pain – and treatment remains a challenge

WW1Professor Andrew Rice from the section of Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care has collaborated with historian Dr Emily Mayhew and army surgeon Major Dafydd Edwards in a paper published in The Lancet on Friday, looking at how WW1 surgeons could do little for amputees’ pain and how treatment still remains a challenge.

Army doctors in the First World War were helpless to stop soldiers who lost limbs from suffering in pain, according to researchers. A century on, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have made the loss of limbs common among military casualties once again, but while prosthetic technology has improved dramatically, there is still a shortage of effective treatments for pain caused by damaged nerves.

Read more on this in the College article.

Students win prizes

UKI NETSTwo students currently working with Prof Andrea Frilling in the Division of Surgery have each been awarded with the 2014 Poster Awards of the UK and Ireland Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (UKI NETS), which aims to promote research, education, training and best clinical practice across a multidisciplinary area in the field of endocrine tumours.

One prize went to Helen Miller, a PhD student working under Prof Friling and the other went to Ashley K. Clift, an UG student who began working with Prof Frilling following an initiative of the AcaMedics programme at Imperial. This programme focuses on opportunities for medical students to participate in research projects and so far Ashley has already contributed to two major papers.

The winning posters will be presented at the UKI NETS annual conference on 01 December 2014.

CRUK Imperial Centre new Art Exhibition

CRUK posterThe Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre is delighted to celebrate the exhibition by Rina Dave ‘The People Who Are Keeping Me Alive’ which will be on display in the College’s Main Entrance from Exhibition Road at South Kensington from 17th – 30th of November.

The exhibition has focused on 20-25 individuals who are responsible for the care of one cancer patient, Rina Dave. It portrays the people behind the profession from three different hospitals: Charing Cross, Hammersmith, and Stanmore, but also her GP and her Chinese herbalist. Rina Dave has stage four cancer, and during her many treatments she has met different teams of professionals from technicians to surgeons who are involved working across disciplines in some way or the other in the care and wellbeing of the patient.

In every person she has come into contact with Rina has been impressed with the care and compassion she has received and the many different specialities which have enabled her to get the treatment that she needs. Through her exhibition Rina depicts how important they were in her treatment in giving her the strength and energy to survive and stay strong. It is important to Rina that each portrait gives the audience an insight into what it is about these people that give them the strength and inspiration to carry on working in such an environment. The exhibition itself will be colourful, full of life and with a sense of humour.CRUK Imperial Centre LOGO

For more information on the exhibition take a look at the Facebook page and keep up to date with what’s happening at the CRUK Imperial Centre Facebook page.

Prizes won by Vascular Clinical Research Fellows

Congratulations to two of the Clinical Research Fellows working in Vascular Surgery, who have recently been awarded the below prizes:

Awards

  • Mr Roshan Bootun was awarded the Norman Tanner medal by the Royal Society of Medicine for his paper on A randomised controlled trial of two different methods of endovenous ablation in the management of superficial venous insufficiency. 
  • Miss Kate Williams was awarded the Surgery MIA prize for her presentation about Neuromuscular electrical stimulation in the management of chronic venous disease. 

Prof Davies becomes a Royal Society of Medicine President of the Surgical Section

IMG_2551Professor Alun Davies was inaugurated as President of the Surgical Section, Royal Society of Medicine on 15 October 2014 in recognition of his outstanding commitment and contribution to both the Royal Society of Medicine and academic vascular surgery.

Professor Davies is based at Charing Cross and St Mary’s Hospitals.  His research interests include the aetiology and management of venous and arterial disease, metabolic profiling, and health-related quality of life assessment.

The Surgical Section of the RSM is hosting a range of meetings next year – please see their website for details (https://www.rsm.ac.uk/events.aspx).

NIHR Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre News

Safety

Being willing to see things clearly: The essential role of transparency in clinical process improvement.

Date: Tuesday 6th January 2015 at 5.00pm

Venue: Roger Bannister Lecture Theatre, 1st Floor, Medical School Building, St Mary’s Campus, Paddington

Free to attend/ no registration required.

More details here

 

Surgical Society Inaugural Lecture

DSC_0672

On Thursday 23rd October, the ICSM Surgical Society held its annual Inaugural Lecture. This year they were honoured to host Miss Clare Marx, the newly-elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons, as the guest speaker.

The ICSM Surgical Society is a student-led society that aims to increase surgical exposure and education for undergraduates. With a membership of over 300 students, it is one of the largest societies at Imperial College School of Medicine. The society delivers many conferences and educational events, most notably their flagship International Trauma Conference.

DSC_0666Miss Clare Marx is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and the first female President to be elected to the Royal College of Surgeons in its 214-year history. High on her agenda are workforce issues, particularly the low percentage of women entering surgery, the challenges of delivering quality training in reduced working hours, and the need for professionals to continuously strive for improvements in quality and care of their patients.

Her insightful lecture, entitled “It may not be 9-5 but it’s still the best job in the world”, was well-attended by students from all years of the medical school, as well as several members of the Faculty.

Notably, the Surgical Society also conferred an Honorary Presidency upon Mr Joseph Shalhoub, Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London, for his outstanding services to the society.

Tom West Analytical Fellowship Awarded

Congratulations to Dr Isabel Garcia Perez, Research Associate based within CSM, who has just been awarded a Tom West Analytical Fellowship from the Royal Society of Chemistry. The Fellowship has been established  to assist early career analytical chemists within 5 years of their first full-time junior academic appointment at a UK or Irish HEI to establish their own independent analytical science research identity.

Three Surgery and Cancer research students win prestigious funding

SantanderThe College recently provided a call for the Santander Mobility Award, which provides funding for students to undertake study/research in countries within the Santander network (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, UK, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela).

There were 10 x £1000 awards available and with over 70 applications, the Department of Surgery and Cancer are pleased to announce that 3 of our research students received this award.

MEd Surgical Education alumnus wins Robert Jones Gold Medal

OrthopaedicsMEd Surgical Education alumnus Mr Andrew Wainwright has won the Robert Jones Gold Medal from the British Orthopaedic Association, after submitting an essay based on his MEd studies.

Andrew, a student at Imperial with the 2011 cohort studied for the MEd Surgical Education part-time, completed his degree with a dissertation entitled “A good pair of hands”, and graduated in 2013 with a Distinction. In the prize-winning essay he discussed the themes of competence, apprenticeship and craftsmanship in orthopaedic surgery today. By exploring the essence of what ‘having a good pair of hands’ means to surgeons, he proposed how this could improve the way that orthopaedic surgeons learn, teach, and assess surgical skills.

Women’s Leadership Lecture

Women's LeadershipProfessor Maggie Dallman, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Associate Provost (Academic Partnerships) Designate

requests the pleasure of your company at a special event:

Women’s Leadership in Entrepreneurial and STEMM cultures

Tuesday 4 November 2014
14:00-17:00
170 Queen’s Gate, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SW7 2AZ

Speakers include: Nicky Morgan MP, Norma Jarboe OBE, Helena Morrissey CBE, and from Imperial College London Professor Alice Gast, President, and Professor James Stirling, Provost

RSVP: Naomi Anderson-Eyles, n.andersoneyles@imperial.ac.uk 020 7594 1934

Drinks reception from 16.00

The Mako Story – from Zero to $1.7bn in 9 years

There will be a Michael Uren Speaker on Wednesday October 29th at 5:00 PM in Pippard Lecture Theatre, Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus.

The speaker will be Maurice Ferré, the Co-Founder of Mako and the talk will be titled “The Mako story – from Zero to $1.7bn in 9 years” 

Maurice R. Ferré MD is a serial entrepreneur in the medical technology sector.  His most recent success was MAKO Surgical Corp.  As Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO and President over a period of ten years (2003- 2013), MAKO became the world leader in robotic orthopaedic surgery. The World Economic Forum recognized MAKO as a Technology Innovator in 2003. MAKO was the first company to develop and commercialize 3D printed implants. The Company was ranked No.1 by Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 in 2011. In December 2013, Stryker Corp acquired MAKO for $1.65B.

Prior to MAKO, Dr Ferré was Founder, CEO and President of Visualization Technology Inc. (1993-2002).  VTI became the world leader in image guided surgery for ENT, cranial and orthopaedic procedures. The Company was acquired by GE Healthcare in 2002.

Outline
In 2003 MF founded Mako surgical. The vision for was of a company delivering industrial quality control into the operating room for the index operation of  partial joint replacement. This field had already been identified, and was potentially a multiple of the total knee market.  To achieve the goal of industrialising the quality of joint replacement, three streams had to be developed: Intellectual property, excellent engineering, and a business model that could repay the investment in technology by a mixed model of equipment and implant sales.

In my talk I will discuss the strategy developed to deliver each of these aspects. The engineers had to design and build a robot that was robust enough to cope with the strongest orthopaedic surgeon without breaking, the financial engineers had to deliver a business model that was realistic. Our investors repaid our attention to both technical and commercial milestones by continued investment. The company raised over $350m from private investment and IPO in 2008. Mako was acquired for $1.65bn less than 10 years from founding the company with nothing more than an idea.

Drink reception to follow.

New test can help doctors choose best treatment for ovarian cancer

OvarianProfessor Tom Bourne, (Adjunct Professor in the Department) formed part of a team of researchers involved in a new test to help doctors diagnose ovarian tumours and choose the most appropriate treatment.

In a study published in the British Medical Journal, an international team led by Imperial College London and KU Leuven, Belgium describe a new test, called ADNEX, which can discriminate between benign and malignant tumours, and identify different types of malignant tumour, with a high level of accuracy.

To read the full story on the Imperial news site, please click here.