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Letter from the Head of the Institute
Getting to know you
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I arrived at the NHLI with the ambition to meet all PIs in the Department within my first three months. I now realise what crazy idea that was! However, 6 months in, I think I am just about there and have managed to spend at least some time with most of the group leaders, and have a better idea of the truly amazing scope, quality and quantity of the science that goes on in the NHLI. It is hardly surprising that we are heading towards a bumper year on the grant income front with over £30M assured already.
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I am extremely grateful to everyone who has taken me through their science, even (and usually) when I was well out of my depth. I have learnt a lot, especially on the cardiac and vascular science side, and have loved hearing everyone’s ambitions, which seem boundless. I have heard about how Lentivirus SeV-F/HN can be used to up-regulate lung anti-trypsin production, cell-cell transfer properties of endothelial-derived micro-vesicles, the impact of pre-conception exposures on asthma-risk, the role of Wnt-planar cell polarity pathways on lung development and repair, endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT), how retinal blood vessel patterning predicts cardiovascular risk, the design of novel placebo-controlled RCTs to validate interventional procedures in cardiology, AI platforms for automating CT reporting, substrate mapping in atrial fibrillation, mycobacterial (NTM) contamination of oil sumps … and much, much more. Suffice to say, these conversations have been the absolute highlight of the past 6 months, and I hope to have lots more. If the NHLI continues to focus on, and value its science base, and we follow a collegiate and academically-led strategy then everything else should follow, including the flow of young talent and our ability to deliver world-class education.
Two final things:
(1) my thanks to everyone who participated in the recent Staff Survey (we had a response rate of over 65% and were the top Department in the Faculty)
(2) please ensure you have signed up for the NHLI Research Away Day on Monday June 10 in the QEII Conference Centre - more details here
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Microbiome College-wide Network of Excellence launched
Microbiome@Imperial has recently been founded with the aim to foster interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange across the College Faculties, bringing together existing researchers with any interest in the microbiome, from clinical to agricultural. It is led by Professor Marc Emmanuel-Dumas, recently appointed Chair in Systems Medicine at the NHLI, jointly with the Department of Surgery & Cancer. Co-Directors are Professor Miriam Moffatt and Dr Michael Cox at the NHLI, and Professor Julian Marchesi of Surgery & Cancer with Dr Thomas Bell of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. The Network will be formally launched at an event on 9 May and is intended to be as inclusive as possible. Register your interest now microbiome-network@imperial.ac.uk and keep an eye on the webpages.
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Dr Jane Evers to retire from NHLI
Jane Evers will be retiring as NHLI Departmental Manager this May after nine years at the helm. We thank her for her steadfast guidance, support and loyalty during what has been a time of change across College and within NHLI, working with three Head’s of Department during her tenure at the top. We wish her well in whatever challenge she decides to take up next.
Jane joined NHLI in 2010 having come to work at Imperial originally as Manager of the Division of Medicine in 2007 working with Professor Jonathan Weber. She had trained as a developmental neurobiologist with a PhD in the Department of Anatomy at University College London, before holding postdoc roles at Yale University and UCL, and joining the Medical Research Council in their Head Office scientific and HR teams.
Jane joined NHLI initially as Deputy Head with responsibility for Respiratory Medicine and following Paul Hirom’s retirement was his obvious successor as Institute Manager to Professor Kim Fox, and subsequently Professor Sian Harding and Professor Edwin Chilvers.
Professor Kim Fox reflects “I am immensely grateful to have had Jane as my Institute Manager. She was always there to support and help me through both the good and challenging times. NHLI owes a great deal of its success to having Jane building up and lead a brilliant administrative team”.
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