Leading professors have been appointed to launch a medical research hub at the University of Cumbria.
Professors Jonathan Weber and Sophie Day have been named as co-directors of the hub, part of Pears Cumbria School of Medicine and the Institute of Health and will be based at the Fusehill Street campus.
Jonathan, professor of communicable diseases at Imperial College London, has devoted his working life to working on HIV and AIDS clinically and in research.
His research has included the natural history of HIV, antiretroviral treatment and latterly prevention and HIV vaccine development.
Jonathan was dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London from 2017 to 2023.
From 1991 to 2018 he was the Jefferiss Professor of Communicable Diseases and GU Medicine at Imperial College and an honorary physician a St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Sophie is a social anthropologist and Professor Emerita at Goldsmiths University of London.
She worked at St Mary’s Hospital where she established the Praed Street Project with Prof Helen Ward, conducting research with sex workers and establishing a range of services from 1993 to 2017. She co-founded the Imperial NIHR BRC Patient Experience Research Centre in 2011.
She said: “The hub will need to provide research opportunities that are relevant to Cumbria. We aim to involve patients and other members of the public to better understand research priorities locally. This will include a regular public webinar series to showcase cutting edge medical research and clinical services in Cumbria.”
Jonathan added: “There is huge potential for research collaboration with the universities at Newcastle and Lancaster and our priorities will be to work with NHS partners to build more research and training opportunities in North West England.
“This will tie in seamlessly with healthcare training at the University of Cumbria and medical training at the new Pears Cumbria School of Medicine”.
Professor Karen Stansfield, dean of the Institute of Health, University of Cumbria, said: “The development of the new hub is a fantastic opportunity to bring together existing expertise from within the Institute of allied health, nursing and midwifery, digital health, sport, psychology, social work and so much more.
“The Institute of Health provides a pipeline of health and social care professionals to local health and social care organisations within Cumbria and more widely. In addition, the Institute is one of the largest national providers of apprenticeship provision and continuous professional development for the health and social care workforce.
“With the research hub in the Institute, staff will have more opportunity to work together building an interprofessional focus and creating new ideas and solutions with partners across health and social care. The work undertaken in the hub will also enhance our educational provision.”
Jonathan said: “The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine will create a new generation of doctors from Cumbria, that live and work and bring skills to improving health outcomes in Cumbria. Research is a critical part of this enterprise.”
Students will gain early exposure to clinical practice alongside research-informed medical sciences teaching. Students will also complete a community-based project associated with disease prevention, health promotion and healthcare delivery. Clinical skills training will occur throughout the four-year programme.
