Blog posts

Imperial College researchers conducting national pilot on supporting return to work

Some of the EMBED study team.

Researchers at Imperial College London are spearheading a national pilot aimed at revolutionizing the way we approach work and health. With soaring levels of economic inactivity due to ill health in the UK, the team at The Self-Care Academic Research Unit has joined forces with occupational health clinicians and experts from the Department for Work and Pensions. Together, they are implementing a pioneering study that embeds job centre work coaches and disability employment advisors within GP surgeries. Dr Lara Shemtob, Academic Clinical Fellow in General Practice and Occupational Health Physician at Imperial College London writes more about this exciting initiative, the EMBED study, below.  

Researchers at Imperial College London are working on a solution to the high levels of economic inactivity due to ill health in the UK. Together, with occupational health clinicians and a team at the Department for Work and Pensions, researchers at The Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) are delivering and evaluating a pilot study that places job centre work coaches and disability employment advisors in GP surgeries, where people’s work and health needs can be addressed together. 

‘This project represents a watershed for work and health in the UK, and a first step to universal access to occupational health.’ - Dr Shriti Pattani, National Expert in Occupational Health & Wellbeing and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Imperial College, London 

This topic is high on the policy agenda as levels of economic inactivity due to ill health continue to rise. The challenge of helping people work through ill health will only get more prevalent as the population ages. This could have significant consequences on public sector services in the next future with less people contributing to government revenues through work, and instead becoming more reliant on state support.  

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Embracing doubt in science

Nana-Marie Lemm, Clinical Research Fellow

Why is ‘doubt’ an important resource in science? How can we support the kind of science that takes intellectual risks – and takes time? Nana-Marie Lemm, Clinical Research Fellow at the Department of Infectious Disease, gives her reflections on the recent Day of Doubt conference, organised by the Good Science Project. 

What are the motivations for becoming a scientist? It might be the search for truth or to understand how things work, or to work towards a greater good. But how does that idea compare to the reality of the day-to day work of science, and the culture of doing science? 

The Day of Doubt was the first conference of its kind at Imperial College London. Organised by The Good Science Project, the conference aimed to reflect on research culture at the university level and beyond. It provided a space for discussion, reflection, and the opportunity to ask fundamental questions.  

So, what is ‘doubt’ and why might it be important in science? The team behind the Good Science Project have helpfully created a thesaurus of doubt and a memo document on the day. In the latter, Dr Anthea Lacchia writes:  

“If we take doubt to be the opposite of complacency, it is associated with pause, with thoughtful hesitation. Yet, this act of questioning, of taking necessary time before making a decision, seems at odds with the push for success, publications, and the need for high impact results. In truth, science is full of conflicts, some internal, some relating to wider culture.”  

On the day, there was the opportunity to take time to engage in the act of questioning. Reflective sessions ranged from questioning concepts such as, ‘public engagement,’ ‘interdisciplinarity,’ ‘excellence,’ ‘expertise,’ to delving into philosophical discussions surrounding the nature of scientific truth. 

A key question to speakers in the first session of the conference that resonated with me was,  “How do you talk about doubt when you don’t come from a position of seniority and confidence?” 

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Imperial College WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training (WHOCC) receives its 5th re-designation by the World Health Organization

Outside-WHO-building-Geneva.

The Imperial World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education & Training (WHOCC) was created in 2007 to support the work of the World Health Organization and its founding objective: ‘the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health’. Established by the WHO Global Committee with the support of the British Government, the WHOCC has a special focus on global health issues and health services research, in addition to public health education and training.  This year, Imperial WHOCC was redesignated for another four years- a huge achievement. Hear from Rachel Barker, Support Officer, at the WHO Collaborating Centre and Department of Primary Care and Public Health, about the WHOCC’s work.  

Following an intensive and rigorous process, the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre of Public Health Education and Training (WHOCC) Imperial College London, has been re-designated for another four years, securing its vital work in improving global health and wellbeing until 2027.  During the previous designation period, Imperial WHOCC shared its expertise with Low-and-Middle-Income-Countries (LMIC)  to assist them with their endeavors towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In respect to SDG 3, ‘Good Health and Well-Being’, Imperial WHOCC has collaborated with stakeholders, countries, and international organisations on improving access to Universal Health Coverage (UHC).  

Commenting on the news, Professor Salman Rawaf shared his congratulations to the Imperial WHOCC team, “The WHOCC re-designation is quite the feat – thank you to our team for their hard work. This is our fifth re-designation – a record achievement for any WHO CC at a global level. As a direct result of our work, the WHO and many member states have benefited from the excellence of Imperial College London and its affiliated NHS institutions in research, service development, education and training. A sincere thanks to Professor of Primary Care and Public Health, and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health, Azeem Majeed, Chair in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention at the School of Public Health, Professor Elio Riboli, and Professor Deborah Ashby, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for their continued support over the years.” 

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Sharing dumplings, jetlag and the stage: co-presenting at conferences, the way forward

Dr Lindsay Dewa, Advanced Research Fellow in Mental Health, and Pelumi Fatayo, co-producer of Nexus, reflect on their experiences of presenting together at an international conference, and the value of putting co-production into practice. 

“Oof – long day that wasn’t it! Is it 11pm or 7am? Is it Friday or Saturday? I’m so confused!” – Lindsay

That was a question I had asked Pelumi following over 24 hours of travelling from London (and Manchester for Pelumi) to South Korea. But I could see it was already well worth the trip before we’d even stepped out of the taxi – the bright lights, the heat… the friendly taxi driver trying to figure out where our hotel was on his five digital devices… we were excited! But what I was most looking forward to was co-presenting about co-production in mental health research at a prestigious international conference – ISQua – with one of my young co-producers, Pelumi. The conference theme was “Technology, culture and co-production: Looking to the horizon of quality and safety” so we felt it was perfect for us to share our experiences.

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Navigating the debate on prostate cancer screening in the UK: Balancing risks, resources, and outcomes

In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, few topics have garnered as much attention and controversy as prostate cancer screening in the UK. With approximately one in six men destined to face this diagnosis in their lifetime, the urgency to address this issue is undeniable. To provide clarity amidst this complexity, Rebecca Wright, Honorary GP Teaching Fellow at the School of Public Health, and Azeem Majeed, Professor of Primary Care and Public Health, and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health, at Imperial College London, delve into the heart of this debate, seeking to balance the critical factors of risks, resources, and outcomes in prostate cancer screening in England. 

Prostate cancer screening in England has become very topical and attracted considerable recent news coverage. Around one in six men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives with incidence increasing with age. Another major risk factor is ethnicity; black men are at highest risk of prostate cancer and Asian men are at lowest risk. Other risk factors include family history, obesity and genetics; for example, those with a fault in their BRCA 2 gene (genes that produce proteins that help repair damaged DNA) have a two times higher risk of developing prostate cancer. (1) 

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Margaret Turner Warwick Centre: Can we take your breath away?

The Great Exhibition Road Festival is a free annual celebration of science and the arts each summer in South Kensington. The event showcases a diverse range of activities for people of all ages.  One of those activities, led by researchers from the Margaret Turner Warwick Centre and volunteers from the charity Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis, included an interactive activity that gave the public the opportunity to walk in the shoes of someone living with pulmonary fibrosis. Find out first-hand from Elisabeth Pyman, what happened on the day and hear from pulomary fibrosis patient, Andy, what it’s like to live with the condition.

The June weekend of the Great Exhibition Road Festival was one of quintessential British summertime weather. This celebration of science was hosted by Imperial College London in collaboration with the local community and provided a wide range of topics for people of all ages to explore. Under intermittent spells of rain, crowds of a multitudinous diversity explored the “awe and wonder” of science, the theme of this year’s festival. To welcome the public, artists and scientists populated the streets and buildings surrounding Imperial’s South Kensington campus like a sudden desert bloom.

Meanwhile, another transformation was taking place in a stand tucked away at the end of the road in the Creative Science zone. Researchers from the Margaret Turner Warwick Centre and volunteers from the charity Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis were on a mission to spread awareness about a rare lung condition known as pulmonary fibrosis. This condition is associated with a build-up of scar tissue that leads to a steady decline in lung function, with many patients becoming terminal only five years after diagnosis. Currently, there are 32,500 UK residents living with a diagnosis, but the actual number of people affected is estimated at around 100,000.

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HIV antiretroviral therapy: Getting to the heart of the matter

The HIV landscape has completely transformed since the start of the pandemic. A HIV diagnosis in the 1980s was considered fatal, as people usually progressed to AIDS due to the lack of available treatments. 42 years later, we have an array of different drug options and as a result, people diagnosed with HIV today can now expect to have near-normal life expectancies. Here, Dr Akif Khawaja from the National Heart & Lung Institute (NHLI), highlights the impact of HIV treatment over the last 42 years and how it influences cardiovascular research today.

HIV Treatment: from AZT to U=U

At the start of the pandemic, there were no available treatments. Patients would progress to AIDS and were only offered palliative care. It wasn’t until 1987 that the first antiretroviral drug, zidovudine (AZT), was licenced for the treatment of HIV. A major challenge with HIV treatment soon became apparent, as the virus can rapidly mutate and change its genetic code to become resistant to the drug supressing its replication. This challenge was quickly seen by clinicians as their patients would start to rebound from antiretroviral monotherapy (one drug regimens) as HIV became drug resistant and was able to replicate again. The introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy in 1996 has been monumental to HIV management. A change in treatment guidelines meant that patients who would have previously been given one drug, were now given three drug combinations, each targeting different parts of the HIV life cycle. This approach meant that patients could suppress HIV replication and achieve a sustained undetectable viral load, meaning that the level of virus in their blood is so low, it can no longer be detected by diagnostic tests.

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Involving critically ill children in research: Is that even possible?

When a young patient’s life hangs in the balance, the last thing on the minds of stressed parents, families and patients would be to get involved in research. Or is it? Despite the turmoil, some brave families and children have volunteered to support clinicians in their research by taking part. Dr Padmanabhan Ramnarayan, Clinical Reader in Paediatric Critical Care in the Department of Surgery and Cancer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and West London Children’s Healthcare, explains why.  

I have been a children’s intensive care doctor for over 20 years, and for most of that time, I have been leading research that has involved critically ill children. My patients are young, their parents and families are super-stressed, and most of the treatments are given in an emergency – all of which seem like perfectly valid reasons to not involve sick children in research. Despite this, my experience is that parents and families are overwhelmingly in support of research. Why? 

The evidence gap 

Since children’s intensive care is a young speciality, much of our practice is ‘borrowed’ from adult intensive care or newborn intensive care. This is not ideal because our patients range from birth to 18 years of age, with diseases as diverse as asthma, respiratory infections, accidents and trauma, sepsis and brain injury. Without high-quality research to guide care, the treatments provided to sick children may not be the best or the most effective. Doctors and nurses, and parents and families, understand this. By agreeing to include their children in research studies, parents want to improve the care provided to future patients. 

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Professor Sir Peter Barnes knighted for excellence: Reflections on his career in respiratory science

Professor Sir Peter Barnes FRS FMedSci, from the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), was made a Knight Bachelor in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours “for services to respiratory science.” Sir Peter is Professor of Thoracic Medicine at the NHLI and he was Head of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial until 2017. Here he writes about his reaction to his award and describes some of the current research projects in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

A surprise! 

My wife opened the letter “On His Majesty’s Service” as she thought it was a tax demand – I was absolutely shocked to see I had been offered a knighthood. Of course, I was and am delighted with the award. It is very good for respiratory science and medicine, which generally receives little public attention. This is surprising as chronic lung diseases are amongst the most common in the UK, affecting one in seven people and the third ranked cause of death. I would like to dedicate this award to all the brilliant students, post-docs, research fellows, visiting scientists and colleagues that I have worked with at Imperial College London over many decades.  

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From Paris to London, via The Gambia—my journey as a clinician scientist

Prof Maud Lemoine with key collaborators, including Dr Yusuke Shimakawa and Dr Gibril Ndow
Prof Maud Lemoine with key collaborators, including Dr Yusuke Shimakawa and Dr Gibril Ndow

On the national day of France—known as ‘Bastille Day’ in English—we hear from Prof Maud Lemoine, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Hepatology at Imperial’s Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction. She completed her medical degree and PhD in Paris, France, before working in The Gambia, and then the UK  

What brought you to London, and Imperial?

Initially I came a bit by chance. I was working in a teaching hospital in Paris as a full-time clinical consultant, having completed a PhD in physiopathology of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I wanted to work abroad and was very interested in working on viral hepatitis and liver cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. I wanted to work in a non-French speaking environment and meet other cultures. In 2011, by chance, I met Prof Mark Thursz who gave me the opportunity to join his team. I spent about 2 years and a half in The Gambia where I implemented a very ambitious research programme on liver diseases in West Africa. Then, in 2014, I moved to London. I hadn’t planned to move to London, but then I discovered a different culture—where I was given so many more opportunities than I’d have in the French system. I was extremely motivated but more importantly I felt really supported by Imperial and my department to develop my ambitions and create my own research group. I do still miss the French system from which I have learnt a lot.

I was initially going to spend a year or two as a lecturer at Imperial, but then I secured more funding to expand my research activities and really enjoyed the work environment and its management based on trust and creativity—especially as it’s much more diverse here. There are so many different nationalities represented in our department, it’s really nice.

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