News and Events

BU Launches Medical Research Centre

11 June 2007

A new era in medical education and research is unveiled in Bournemouth with the launch of our Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education.

The Centre, opened by Vice-Chancellor Paul Curran, is dedicated to bringing medical colleagues together with academics to work collaboratively, with the ultimate aim being to enhance patient care.

Based in the School of Health and Social Care on the University's Lansdowne Campus in Bournemouth, the Centre is a significant collaboration between the University and the NHS in Bournemouth, Poole and across Dorset.

Consultant rheumatologist Professor Paul Thompson from Poole Hospital and diabetes specialist Dr David Kerr from the Royal Bournemouth Hospital have worked with Dr Gail Thomas, Dean of the School, in establishing the Centre.

There has been a 15-year relationship between the University and the NHS in the region that has involved collaboration on research and teaching, but primarily in the fields of nursing, midwifery and allied health professions. However in our plan to establish centres of research excellence, the decision was made to formally tie together medical research across the local NHS with the academia of the University, and to explore the potential for interprofessional work in the future.

“The new centre is about visibly bringing doctors into the University,” said Professor Thompson.

“This is a win-win situation, for doctors - by having university facilities to assist their work and research - and for the University, by having the academic output.

“For example, how can bio-engineering help orthopaedics with limb replacement? Having this Centre means we can now more easily exchange ideas and methods of working on researching topics.

“There is also the status from being associated with medicine and the increased research awards for the university.”

Dr Thomas said the Centre was set up alongside the other researchers in the school. She said she expected the Centre to lead to more and more collaborative work with the NHS, along with some honorary appointments and visiting professorships.

“We will be encouraging greater collaborations – programmes of research and so on – and taking the research that is going on out there in a piecemeal way at the moment and co-ordinating it in a more formal way,” she added.

“There are many people in practice that want to do research and developmental work - that’s people in the hospitals and the wider NHS- but don’t know where to start. This Centre gives them some focus.”

With the support of the local hospital trusts the Centre’s long-term aim is to enrich the whole environment by improving the quality of care and by increasing the attractiveness of working in the NHS in Dorset through the association with the university.

At the launch, Dr Tim Battcock, Consultant Physician and Clinical Tutor at Poole Hospital, will describe the exciting new initiative to develop University accredited degrees in practice for junior doctors, enhance their training, enriching their personal portfolio and supplementing their competency evaluations - better doctors for better local healthcare provision.

Professor Thompson added: “It should also improve the status of the university by having a medical research centre here, aid recruitment and bring more research money into the university.”

For more information please see the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research website.

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