Month: April 2018

Professor Nadey Hakim advises on diabetes and gains honour in Belgrade

Professor Nadey Hakim has been appointed as Ambassador to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Diabetes. This role will enable the group to keep informed of developments in the area of diabetes and recognises the importance that cardiovascular issues have on diabetes.

Professor Hakim has also been awarded the title of Honorary Visiting Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of Belgrade. You can read more about this role and Prof Hakim’s various other talents, one of which is sculpture!

Lifetime Achievement Award

Professor Roger Greenhalgh has been awarded the first International Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS) International Relations Committee, in light of his contributions that have made lasting impacts on vascular surgery both in the United Kingdom and globally.

This new award has been designed by the SVS to honour living legends in vascular surgery. Most regional Vascular Societies around the globe, including the European Society for Vascular Surgery were asked to participate in the process by submitting names of individuals they thought were candidates for this award. Many excellent candidates were submitted and after careful review, the IRC and the executive board of the SVS made a unanimous decision to grant Professor Greenhalgh this award in recognition of his tremendous accomplishments and contributions to their specialty.

Professor Greenhalgh will be presented with his award at the Vascular Annual Meeting, taking place in Boston on the 23 June 2018.

Scholar in training award

Congratulations to Clinical Research Fellow, Liam Poynter who has been awarded a Scholar-In-Training Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), for his abstract entitled “Modulation of cellular phospholipids correlates with tumor regression grade and radio resistance in rectal cancer”.

Liam presented his research at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, which took place last in Chicago on the 14 April 2018.

Provost’s Award for Excellence in Health and Safety

Steffe Klier and Larry Koomson receiving the award from Imperial Provost James Stirling

Congratulations to Julia Anderson and the Safety Improvement Team at St Mary’s campus, who have just received a Provost’s Award nomination for Excellence in Health and Safety, in recognition of their work towards an integrated approach to Health & Safety management across the St Mary’s campus.

The award recognises the sustained contribution to the improvement in safe working, initiated and led by Julia and supported by the laboratory-facing academic and research members of the former Division of Digestive Diseases in the Department of Surgery and Cancer.

This nomination reflects the exceptional level of commitment and enthusiasm with which the Divisional team delivered the improvement required. One year later, the College Safety Auditor, Julia Cotton has stated that it’s been extremely encouraging to see the changes in the Division, and for staff to have commented on the improvements directly to her.

The Safety Improvement Team comprises of Prof Mark Thursz, Prof Julian Marchesi, Dr Julie McDonald, Dr Wafa Khamri, Ms Steffi Klier and Mr Larry Koomson. This team was supported and encouraged by Neil Chapman and Roger White, and was assisted by the College Building Managers Anna McDadd and Sue Francis.

Prestigious Toxicology Award

Congratulations to Professor Nigel Gooderham who has been awarded the honour of the Bo Holmstedt Memorial Lecture from EUROTOX, the Federation of European Toxicologists and European Societies of Toxicology.

The Bo Holmstedt Memorial Lecture is presented every year to recognise scientists who have made outstanding research contributions to the science of drug or chemical toxicology, with particular emphasis given to recent research contributions in this field. When asked, Professor Gooderham commented that he was staggered and extremely honoured to receive this recognition.

Professor  Gooderham will give his lecture at the EUROTOX annual congress in Brussels this September, where he will be presented with his certificate and prize. He will then go on to present this lecture at the Society of Toxicology’s annual meeting, being held in Baltimore in March 2019.

Honorary Fellowship to Royal College of Physicians

Professor Jeremy Nicholson has been elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London), in recognition of his contributions to the field of medicine.

The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 by Henry VIII and oversees the training and professional standards of Physicians in England and across the globe. The highest accolade the Royal College can give is the Honorary Fellowship, which is given to distinguished individuals who have made very important contributions to medical science and the development of the profession.

Professor Nicholson will attend a ceremony later in the year as part of the Royal College of Physician’s 500 year anniversary.

International Prize for Vascular Laboratory

Dr Kalodiki receiving the AVF handbook prize from Dr Glenn Jacobowitz (Recorder) having also received her certificate from Dr Marc Passman (President).

At the 30th annual American Venous Forum meeting Dr Evi Kalodiki from the Josef Pflug Vascular Laboratory, Ealing Hospital, received the prize for best poster presentation.

Dr Kalodiki is an honorary consultant in vascular surgery at Ealing Hospital and is affiliated with Imperial College, the West London Vascular and Interventional Centre and the Thrombosis & Haemostasis research laboratory, Loyola University Chicago, USA.

In her presentation, Dr Kalodiki discussed the hot topic of an antidote to dabigatran which is a new oral anticoagulant. This is important because such an antidote (idarucizumab) may be required in an emergency setting, like haemorrhage, when rapid reversal of anti-coagulation is required. Idarucizumab acts by binding to the benzamidine group of dabigatran, thereby inhibiting its anti-thrombin activity.

This is of clinical importance because simultaneous administration of idarucizumab may compromise the pharmacodynamic profile of benzamidine derived drugs such the anti-psychotics, anti-fungals, anti-malarials and other compounds.

Poster Prize at the Nuclear Receptors Conference in Mexico

Ylenia on the left with her certificate, along with the conference organisers Karen Knudsen, Charlotte Bevan and Wayne Tilley and two fellow poster winners.

Ylenia Perone was awarded a student grant from Fusion Conferences Limited to attend the Nuclear Receptors Conference New Roles for Nuclear Receptors in Development, Health and Disease, which took place in Mexico this February.

This meeting brought together many of the leading figures in nuclear receptor research from across the globe, to discuss emerging roles and their implications for health and disease. Luca Magnani was one of the speakers, talking about the role of epigenetic in breast cancer progression.

At the meeting, Ylenia received a Poster Award for the poster she presented on: “SREBP1 drives cell-autonomous cytoskeletal changes by KRT80 remodeling during ERα breast cancer progression”.