Month: August 2024

Consuls and Proconsuls

Professor Anne Dell CBE FRS FMedSci FAA has been elected Consul for the Faculty of Natural Sciences and cross University organisations for a term of office starting from 1 November 2024 until 31 August 2026. Professor Dell will be replacing one of the two Consuls for this constituency, Professor Stephen Curry, who will serve as Consul until 31 October 2024.

The full list of Consuls and Proconsuls for 2024-2025 is set out below.

Consuls
Professor Jonathan Mestel – Senior Consul
Professor Renata Kosova – Faculty of Engineering and Business School
Professor Alessandro Astolfi – Faculty of Engineering and Business School
Professor Miriam Moffatt – Faculty of Medicine
Professor Wisia Wedzicha – Faculty of Medicine (Clinical)
Professor Stephen Curry – Natural Sciences and cross University organisations – until 31 October 2024
Professor David Evans – Natural Sciences and cross University organisations
Professor Anne Dell – Natural Sciences and cross University organisations – from 1 November 2024

Proconsuls
Professor Dorian Haskard
Professor Richard Jardine
Professor Liz Lightstone
Professor Martin McCall
Professor Ann Muggeridge
Professor Peter Openshaw

Extension of term as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences

Professor Richard Craster has accepted an extension to his term as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences until 31 August 2027.

Reporting to the Provost, Professor Craster is responsible for providing strategic leadership, planning and coordination for the Faculty of Natural Sciences, and for driving continuing excellence in research and education. As Dean, Professor Craster is a member of Imperial’s Council and its University Management Board (UMB).

Professor Craster was both an undergraduate and PhD student of Imperial, and joined Imperial as a staff member in 1998 as a lecturer holding an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship, following a lectureship at the University of Nottingham and Junior Research Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. He was promoted to Professor of Applied Mathematics in 2004 and was Head of the Department of Mathematics from 2011 to 2017. He was the Director of the CNRS-Imperial Abraham de Moivre International Joint Research Unit until 2023 and is Co-Director of the EPSRC-funded UK Acoustics Network. Professor Craster is also a member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering.

Professor Craster’s research interests lie at the intersection of applied mathematics, engineering and physics in particular in metamaterials, guided waves, fluid mechanics and elasticity.

Director of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC)

Professor Mark Thursz has accepted the appointment of Director of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), with effect from 1 August 2024, for a term of five years. He succeeds Professor Jonathan Weber who had held this position since 2012. We express our thanks to Professor Weber for his long stint in office and for his unwavering commitment to the AHSC and its NHS partners and to Imperial College London.

Professor Thursz has been the Head of the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction (MDR) since 2019, a role he will step down from in due course once a new postholder is identified and takes up the post.

Professor Thursz joined Imperial in 1991 as a clinical research fellow and was appointed to a Senior Lectureship in 1997. He was promoted to Professor of Hepatology in 2006. He has held many senior roles within the Department and Faculty, including Head of the Division of Digestive Diseases within MDR, and St Mary’s Campus Director.

He is R&D Director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, where he is a consultant hepatologist based at St Mary’s Hospital. He is also Director of the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, which in 2022 was awarded a five-year grant of over £95M from the NIHR to support research activity in collaboration with Imperial College London.

Professor Thursz is a former secretary of the British Association for Study of the Liver (BASL) and led the European Association for Study of the Liver, as Secretary-General (2011-13). Professor Thursz’s research interests are focussed on viral hepatitis and alcohol-related liver disease. He established the Prevention of Liver Fibrosis and Cancer in Africa (PROLIFCA) programme to address barriers that prevent the control and elimination of viral hepatitis in countries with limited resources. He also runs a translational research programme in alcohol-related liver disease funded by the MRC and NIHR.

Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine

Professor Graham Cooke has accepted appointment as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, with effect from 1 August 2024, for a term of five years. 

Professor Cooke will continue in his role as Vice-Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Medicine. Professor Cooke is also currently serving as Deputy Head of the Department of Infectious Disease, a role which he will step down once he takes on the role of Deputy Dean of the Faculty. 

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