50 at 50: Optimising newborn care to achieve to better health for a better future

The key to good health is a good start in life. In 2010, when I was a relatively new immigrant to the UK, I read Michael Marmot’s report “Fair Society Healthy Lives”. I was delighted to see that the first objective he recommended was “give every child the best start in life”. Over a decade since, as we celebrate 50 years of Medicine in the University of Nottingham, time that I have spent training …

50 at 50: Transforming healthcare: High explosive treatment for treatment of stroke

I have been in Nottingham since 1998 having previously been a Clinical Lecturer then Senior Lecturer in South-West then South-East London. My research and clinical interest in nitric oxide, a gas comprising a molecule of just one oxygen and nitrogen atom, started when working for my MD postgraduate research degree at the “University of Beckenham”, …

50 at 50: The experience of undertaking CP1 during the Covid-19 pandemic

Clinical placement is a time for us medical students to put into practice all of the skills and academic knowledge we have learnt to date. Additionally, it is a time to realise that when you’re asked a question when you first start on the wards, no matter how simple it is, your mind will go …

50 at 50: The Dean’s Symposium: Transformative inclusion: The future of healthcare

Celebrations of 50 years of Medicine and 30 years of Nursing at Nottingham are in full swing. The Dean’s Symposium on Transformative Inclusion was held on the 28 April and it was a fitting part of these events.  The programme included three speakers talking about three very different but thought–provoking subjects.     The virtual event began with a warm welcome from Professor Brigitte Scammell, Dean of Medicine and Head of School to …

50 at 50: Women in Medicine – Pain Inequality: A Healthcare Bias  

Although we are fortunate in the UK to be protected by the NHS, we unfortunately still are plagued with implicit biases which can be detrimental to the beneficence of patients. Healthcare inequality is a broad term used to call attention to the way medicine is unjustly researched, practised, taught and highlighted to the public. The term ‘bias’ is used to refer implicit stereotypes, prejudices and raises …

50 at 50: How Dr Lindsey Davies is inspiring the next generation of doctors

I have just commenced my third year of studying medicine at the University of Nottingham, and since day one I have seized any exciting opportunities that I have become aware of. Being a clinic lead for societies, including Teddy Bear Hospital and HEARTSTART, has been very enlightening and rewarding, while my current role as President …

50 at 50: PRIMIS – Transforming primary care data 

Alongside the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the School of Medicine, a small but important team within the School is celebrating a significant birthday itself in 2020.  Over the past 20 years PRIMIS has become the leader in extracting knowledge and value from primary care data, helping to achieve better health outcomes across the UK.  The PRIMIS team produces highly effective and …

50 at 50: Reflections on directing the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme and being a Welsh sheepdog during the pandemic

On September 30th 2020, I stepped down as the Director of the NIHR HTA Programme after five very busy years. To set the scene, The NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme sits within the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)  – the UK’s largest funder of health and social care research funded by the UK Government. HTA is the largest NIHR Programme and in 2018/19, it supported 584 live projects …

50 at 50: The First Year of Graduate Entry Medicine

I was delighted to be asked to do this blog to reflect on my time as a student at the University of Nottingham and talk about coming back to the University as a member of staff.   I started at Nottingham University back in 2003. I still find it hard to believe that this was 17 years ago! This was the first year of the Graduate Entry Medical (GEM) course, the first 18 …