Chief Medical Officer visits Bristol to meet health researchers and open a new research collaboration

The Chief Medical Officer for England will be visiting Bristol on Wednesday 26 November 2014 to meet researchers who are helping to combat key public health issues.

Professor Dame Sally C Davies, whose role sees her act as the UK government’s principal medical adviser, will be officially launching a new partnership established to improve health and healthcare across the West.

During the day, leading researchers from the University of Bristol will present their pioneering work funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) – which was established by Dame Sally in 2006 to conduct and support health research in the NHS.

This covers a wide range of health issues, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. There will also be an insight into the SPHERE (Sensor Platform for HEalthcare in a Residential Environment) study, a project that will develop novel sensor systems to monitor people’s health in the home.

Dame Sally will attend the launch of the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West (NIHR CLAHRC West), which won an award of £8.9 million over five years from January 2014. CLAHRC West brings together NHS organisations, local authorities, universities, people and patients from across the region, encouraging them to undertake research and translate evidence into the NHS.

Professor Jenny Donovan, Director of the NIHR CLAHRC West, said: “I am delighted that Dame Sally is able to join us during our launch event and formally open the CLAHRC West. The support of NIHR, developed and led by Dame Sally, provides us with tremendous opportunities to find out the best ways to improve the health and well-being of people in the West, and work collaboratively with our partners to deliver those improvements.”

To round off her visit, Dame Sally will give a stark warning about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance when she gives a sold-out public lecture at the University of Bristol.

Her visit has been organised by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, named after one of Bristol’s unsung pioneers in improving public health. It has recently announced a £3 million funding boost to continue its work to bring together leading researchers from a range of different fields to help solve the most pressing health problems of the 21st century.

Professor Jeremy Tavaré, Director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, said: “It’s a huge honour to welcome Dame Sally to Bristol and to have this opportunity to show her the work going on, both at the University and in the wider city, to tackle various pressing health problems faced by the nation as a whole.

Her lecture is a unique opportunity to hear from one of the UK’s foremost medical advisers about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance – arguably the most serious health threat facing the world today.”

The lecture is named after Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the USA and to be placed on the UK’s medical register. Elizabeth was born in Bristol in 1821 and returned to the UK in 1859 to lecture at a social sciences congress held on the site now occupied by the Wills Memorial Building.

The Elizabeth Blackwell Public Lecture will be given annually, and always by a high profile woman in the field of public health or preventative medicine. Support for the lecture came from a generous donation from the descendants of Elizabeth Blackwell who visited Bristol in July 2013 for the launch of the EBI.