MAHSC opens for business
The Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre (MAHSC) has officially launched following its official designation, with the publication of its strategy, “Partnership for the Patient: Bringing Benefit through Research, Education and Innovation”. Our Chief Executive Julian Hartley is pictured above signing UHSM's membership.
The showcasing event for Manchester’s health research focused on the city's aim “to be a leading global centre for the delivery of innovative applied health research and education into healthcare”. Speakers at the event, including MAHSC Chair, Sir David Henshaw, and MAHSC Director, Professor Alan North FRS, mentioned:
- The MAHSC partnership of The University of Manchester and six NHS Trusts;
- Partnership with the Department of Health, the Strategic Health Authority and other Government, regional and local stakeholders;
- Partnership with industry.
MAHSC covers the entire spectrum of activity, embracing laboratory discovery through to NHS service innovation in the community. It will focus on five key health themes: cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory diseases and repair, human development and mental health including neurodegenerative diseases. To support the delivery of health benefits in these areas MAHSC will also provide cross-cutting activities in technology, clinical trials and implementation of research findings into patient service. It will develop:
- An integrated health system for improved and accelerated translational medicine;
- A strategic approach to funding proposals, investment in research, infrastructure, training and education across the partners;
- Harmonised processes and standard operating procedures;
- A single point of access for external partners and stakeholders;
- Cultural change responsive to research and the uptake of innovation within the whole community.
MAHSC has already initiated three pilot programmes. The first is collecting blood samples to understand whether there are any underlying genetic markers for patients that suffer from more than one illness, for example diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The second is a programme to develop public engagement in health research - ’citizen scientists’. The third is an industry liaison programme run through MIMIT® targeted at SMEs in health technology.
Diabetes, Stroke and Arrhythmias are key areas of expertise within the Cardiovascular Academic Section while the four implementation themes of the Greater Manchester Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) are heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
MAHSC has appointed four key clinicians to lead health research and innovation in Manchester, and UHSM’s Dr Simon Ray is the Clinical Academic Section Lead for Cardiovascular.
Dr Ray is a Consultant Cardiologist at UHSM and Honorary Reader in Cardiology at the University of Manchester. He is Vice President Elect of the British Cardiovascular Society’s Clinical Standards Division and Immediate Past President of the British Society of Echocardiography. He has authored more than 70 papers and has been a member of the steering committee of several major cardiology trials. Simon qualified in medicine at Bristol and came to Manchester in 1995 having held positions in Bristol, Glasgow, Newcastle, Vancouver, Canada, and Liverpool.
Diabetes, Stroke and Arrhythmias are key areas of expertise within the Cardiovascular Academic Section while the four implementation themes of the Greater Manchester Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) are heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
The Academic Section Leads take responsibility for the clinical, enabling and education and training themes that are core to delivering the MAHSC strategy and realising the vision “to be a leading global centre for the delivery of health research and education into healthcare”.
Other appointments are: Professor Linda Gask, Clinical Academic Section Lead for Mental Health; Professor Graeme Black, Clinical Academic Section Lead for Human Development & Genetics, and Professor John Radford, Clinical Academic Section Lead for Cancer.