New School of Medicine and Biosciences Launches in Ealing
University of West London hopes it will improve health of local communities
School aims reduce inequalities by developing hyperlocal health and social care initiatives
April 17, 2024
The School of Medicine and Biosciences (SMB), a new interdisciplinary research-driven school at the University of West London (UWL), is opening its doors in Ealing this Wednesday (17 April).
The aim of the school is to improve the health of local communities and reduce inequalities by developing and delivering hyperlocal health and social care initiatives. These could have the potential to scale up nationally, working in partnership with policymakers and front-line practitioners, including the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
Professor Anthony Woodman, Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, will head the new interdisciplinary school, “Our vision for The School of Medicine and Biosciences is to deliver more research-led undergraduate and postgraduate courses, building on UWL’s track record of translating rigorous research into practice and policy, developing the next generation of scientists from undergraduates through to world-leading researchers. The research will focus on ageing and dementia, healthcare inequalities and enabling healthcare and apply its expertise in a number of areas, from malnutrition treatment and infection control to VR-assisted medical training, Artificial Intelligence (AI) scan processing and gene-targeted cancer therapy.”
The Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory (GIAM), a pioneering research institute headed by Professor Katie Featherstone, will be at the heart of The School of Medicine and Biosciences. In 2022, GIAM published a groundbreaking report on the culture of continence care for older people following acute hospital admissions. This was cited as one of the top eight NIHR research projects of the year. In 2023, GIAM launched a blueprint for a dementia-friendly opera, which received widespread attention nationally. Dr Featherstone will give an inaugural professorial lecture to mark the launch of the School on 17 April: Wandering the Wards: understanding and transforming institutional cultures of care for people living with dementia.
World-leading gastroenterologist Professor Raymond Playford, who is Professor of Molecular Medicine at UWL, recently contributed to an international study involving centres in the UK (Queen Mary University), Zambia and Zimbabwe entitled Malnutrition enteropathy in Zambian and Zimbabwean children with severe acute malnutrition. Malnutrition underlies almost half of child deaths globally. Playford’s research shows the potential for a cheap, safe and non-invasive treatment of malnutrition using bovine colostrum, a milk-like substance produced in the first few days of calving. The paper is due to be published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
Other research taking place in the School includes ground-breaking cancer research to develop drugs that block the genes responsible for tumour growth (Professor Richard Morgan, Dean of Biomedical Sciences at the School), the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) scan processing to improve medical diagnostics and treatments (Professor Konstantin Nikolic), and research that could revolutionise echocardiography to make clinical decision-making and the diagnoses and treatment of heart conditions more reliable (Professor Massoud Zolgharn).
Professor Peter John CBE, Vice-Chancellor of UWL, said, “The opening of the School of Medicine and Biosciences today is a very proud moment for the University of West London as it marks the achievement of a major strategic goal. With the School’s mission to improve the health of local communities and reduce inequalities by developing and delivering hyperlocal health and social care initiatives, it espouses what we do best at UWL – bringing meaningful, transformational change to people’s lives.”
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