Reporter

Media Mentions

26 January 2011

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Tags: Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Life Sciences, Public Health
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$1.5 million in Gates funding for neglected diseases

24 January 2011

A group at Imperial dedicated to eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has received $1.5 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve control of a disease passed to humans by pigs.

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Tags: Public Health
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Springboard women celebrate

12 January 2011

A support programme aimed at women postdoctoral researchers celebrated its latest cohort of graduates last month.

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Tags: Postdoc Development Centre, Public Health
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Panel discussion on the global food crisis

16 December 2010

Second year PhD student, Neave O’Clery (Bioengineering), who edits Imperial’s new student union journal on international affairs, A Global Village, reports on a panel discussion on the global food crisis which she helped to organise.

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Tags: Bioengineering, Business School, Public Health
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Huge ‘biobank’ for research into major diseases

25 November 2010

A ‘biobank’ of samples and clinical measurements from tens of thousands of people is to be established in Qatar with the assistance of Imperial to help scientists understand the causes of major diseases and develop new treatments.

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Tags: Public Health
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Academics recognised in new science rankings

29 October 2010

Eight academics from Imperial have been included in Eureka 100: the science list, a new guide to the most important contemporary figures in British science and engineering published by The Times.

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Tags: Faculty of Natural Sciences, Humanities, Institute for Global Health, Materials, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, Public Health, Rector
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Long servers

14 October 2010

Reporter celebrates the anniversaries of staff who have given many years of service to the College. Staff listed below marked milestone anniversaries in the period 27 September – 1 October. (more…)

Tags: Business School, Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Humanities, Kennedy Institute, Long service, Mathematics, Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Physics, Public Health
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Media Mentions

14 October 2010

Bulging waists risk bowel cancer

— THE INDEPENDENT > 13.09.2010

Excess fat on the waist raises the risk of bowel cancer even if the rest of the body is slim, says a review led by Dr Teresa Norat (Public Health). The research, reported in The Independent, links a three per cent increase in risk with every extra inch on the waist. Dr Norat said: “Being overweight increases the risk of [bowel] cancer. People should pay attention to abdominal fatness even if they are in the normal range of weight”. A healthy waist is defined as less than 31.5in (80cm) for women, less than 37in (94cm) for white and black men and less than 35in (90cm) for Asian men. Over 38,000 cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed in Britain each year.

Read the full Independent article here

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Tags: Business School, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Life Sciences, News, Public Health
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Vaccine cuts hospital admissions for children with bacterial pneumonia

17 September 2010

The number of children admitted to English hospitals with bacterial pneumonia decreased by a fifth in the two years following the introduction of a vaccine to combat the disease, according to a new Imperial-led study, published on 27 August in the journal Thorax.

Bacterial pneumonia is a serious illness caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria that mostly affects babies, children and elderly people. It usually develops as a complication following a respiratory tract infection, such as influenza.

In September 2006, a vaccine known as PCV7 was introduced into the childhood primary immunisation programme across the UK, to protect against seven different strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

The pneumococcal vaccine is administered at two, three and 13 months of age. When it was first introduced, there was a catch-up campaign for children aged up to two years, and take-up of the vaccine over the study period was high. It was administered to an average of 84 per cent of eligible children in England in the first year following its introduction and 91 per cent the following year.

The study showed that the numbers of older and younger children admitted with bacterial pneumonia decreased following introduction of the vaccine. This suggests that vaccinating young children can also protect older, non-vaccinated children, by providing ‘herd immunity’. Dr Sonia Saxena (Public Health), who also works as a GP in South London, said: “Now that we have clear evidence about the benefits of the pneumonia vaccine, we hope more parents will be encouraged to have their children vaccinated”.

— Laura Gallagher, Communications and Development

Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Public Health
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WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme recognised

17 September 2010

Imperial was presented with two awards on 24 June during a two-day meeting in Geneva attended by industry, academic and government research institute scientists. The event was hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), who set up the Global Collaboration for Development of Pesticides for Public Health, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme. The first award was presented to the International Pesticide Application Research Centre in the Department of Biology at Silwood Park Campus, which started evaluating equipment for the WHO in 1955. The second award was for Emeritus Professor Graham Matthews (Biology) who was given a personal award for assisting the WHO throughout the 50 years of the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme.

Tags: Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Public, Public Health
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Race for Life

5 August 2010

On 25 July a team of eight women from the Department of Primary Care and Public Health participated in a Cancer Research UK Race for Life five kilometre run. Sherry Morris, Unit Administrator for the Dr Foster Unit reports.

“Since learning that a dear colleague of ours from Dr Foster Intelligence was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, staff at the Dr Foster Unit wanted to show our support and, joined by colleagues in the wider Department of Primary Care and Public Health, took part in a Cancer Research UK run.

We decided to run in fancy dress and on Saturday 25 July a fairy, a school girl, an alligator, a Dalmatian, a pirate, a cave woman, a she-devil and a cowgirl turned up in Finsbury Park. Our costumes attracted a lot of attention and Heart FM posted several pictures of us on their site. We had perfect race weather—cool and a bit overcast–and by the end of the race the sun was shining on all the winners. For several of us this was our first charity race and we enjoyed it so much we are considering making this a yearly event. While it was great to receive a medal for our efforts, the real reward is knowing that we’re helping others survive cancer. Our colleagues, family and friends have been fantastic in supporting us and so far we’ve raised over £1700.”

Support Sherry and the team

Team members (pictured right) were: (from the Dr Foster Unit) Anna Renz (alligator), Carmen Tsang (cavewoman), Min Hua Jen (fairy), Roxana Alexandrescu (pirate) and Sherry Morris (cowgirl). From PCPH: Alex Williams (schoolgirl), Monique Dingli (she-devil) and Laura Garcia-Alvarez (Dalmatian) participated.

Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Public Health
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Mobile phone masts and early childhood cancers

21 July 2010

A new study looking at the patterns of early childhood cancers across Great Britain led by Imperial researchers has found no association between a mother living near to a mobile phone base station during her pregnancy and the risk of that child developing cancer before reaching the age of five.

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Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Public Health
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Study shows increased mortality rate at weekends

14 June 2010

People admitted to English hospitals in an emergency at the weekend have, on average, a seven percent higher mortality rate than people admitted between Monday and Friday, according to research published in the journal Quality & Safety in Health Care on 10 June.

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Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Issue 221, Public Health
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Inside the World Health Organisation

9 June 2010

In February a group of eight postgraduate students from the Department of Medicine made a trip to the World Health Organisation (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, as part of the Health Systems Development course taught at the WHO Collaborative Centre based at Charing Cross. One of the students, Ruben Gennero, reports on his experience:

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Tags: Faculty of Medicine, Issue 220, Medicine, Public Health, Students
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New study explores heath images of using mobile phones

27 April 2010

Scientists from Imperial’s School of Public Health launched a new decades-long study to investigate whether there is a link between the use of mobile phones and long-term health problems on 22 April.

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Tags: Issue 219, News, Public Health
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