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Network Champions appointed
20th April 2016
Clinical Research Champions have been appointed to provide national leadership in the development of clinical research activity in Scotland. The appointments across Children's, Stroke and Diabetes networks will take up post on 1st June 2016.
Prof Jürgen Schwarze (based in Edinburgh) - Children's Network Research Champion
Prof Schwarze (FRCPCH) is the Edward Clark Chair of Child Life and Health at the University of Edinburgh, a paediatrician specialised in allergist and respiratory medicine, and an internationally recognised expert in immune mechanisms of RSV bronchiolitis and associated airway allergy.
Dr Schwarze qualified in Medicine from Freiburg University, Germany in 1988, trained as a paediatrician specialising in paediatric respiratory medicine and paediatric allergy and he now leads the paediatric allergy service at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh and is the clinical lead for the national Children’s and Young People’s Allergy Network Scotland.
In 1994, as a post-doctoral fellow at National Jewish Medical and Research Centre in Denver, Colorado, Dr Schwarze started to work on immune responses in RSV bronchiolitis and allergic airway disease. He continued his research at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, and from 2002 to 2007 at Imperial College London where, as a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow, he focused his research on the role of lung dendritic cells in respiratory viral infections and subsequent reactive airway disease. In 2007 he moved to the MRC-Centre for Inflammation Research at the University of Edinburgh and took up his current Chair in 2008
Dr Jesse Dawson (based in Glasgow) - Research Champion, Stroke Network
Clinical Reader specialising in clinical stroke research and Honorary Consultant in the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Research portfolio includes complex clinical trials in stroke survivors and large multi-centre trials. Main interest lies in long-term outcome after stroke. Holds a BHF/Stroke Association programme grant, HTA NIHR funding and NIH funding. Member of a Whitehall Research Ethics Committee, the editorial board of Stroke and grant review panels for the Stroke Association. Regularly reviews grants and reports for major funders including the NIHR. and has forged substantial international collaborations. A medical outcomes manager for 2 pivotal phase III NIH funded studies, an EU FP-7 funded study and other international trials. Trials are among the fastest recruiting studies in the UK Clinical Research Network (Stroke).
Prof Rory McCrimmon (based in Dundee) - Research Champion, Diabetes Network
Trained at the University of Edinburgh and completed his clinical and speciality training in the South-East of Scotland before becoming an NHS Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology at University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, in 2000. In 2002, he joined the faculty at Yale University, Connecticut, to further develop his basic research in the central regulation of glucose homeostasis, before returning to the UK in 2009 to establish his laboratory at the University of Dundee, where he is currently Professor of Experimental Diabetes and Metabolism and Honorary Consultant, and Lead Clinician for the Scottish Diabetes Research Network. Prof McCrimmon’s Laboratory focuses on the basic mechanisms through which the brain regulates whole body glucose homeostasis with a particular focus on hypoglycaemia. His laboratory has made a number of important contributions to this field and the work of has laboratory as been presented at many national and international meetings. In addition to his work in research and clinical practice, Prof McCrimmon serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and Diabetic Hypoglycemia, an on-line journal focused on hypoglycaemia in clinical practice. He also serves as a member of the Medical Research Council Clinical Fellowship Training and Career Development Awards Panel, the Scottish Translational Medicine Training Initiative, and the Research Advisory board, Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation.
NRS Topics and Specialty Groups cover 24 specialties including 7 Topic Research Networks and 14 Specialty Groups and provide the coordinated support and advice required to deliver clinical research in Scotland. Each specialty also works within the broader UK Clinical Research network, including the NIHR CRN, and equivalent structures in Wales (NISCHR) and Northern Ireland (NICRN).
Following the recent review of NHS Research Scotland (NRS) support structures, the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government (CSO) is implementing a set of changes to drive delivery to clinical studies in Scotland. Part of this process is the renewal of research specialty clinical lead roles over the next three years.
