This joint event celebrates excellence in clinical teaching by NHS staff, and presents the inaugural lecture by Professor Karim Meeran.
Awards for Teaching Excellence for NHS Teachers: These awards were instituted in April 2003 to mark the contribution of over 800 NHS staff in West London who help deliver the curriculum for undergraduate medical education at Imperial. The awards are widely supported by partner NHS Trusts in recognition of medical teaching being a shared activity, delivered by medical and nursing staff, pharmacists, therapists and others employed in hospitals and general practice.
Inaugural lecture: Translational research – Gila monsters, neuropeptides and Margaret Thatcher
Lecturer: Professor Karim Meeran, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London
In the chair: Professor Jenny Higham, Director of Education, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London and Consultant Gynaecologist, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Vote of thanks: Professor Stephen Bloom, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London and Chief of Pathology Service, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Abstract: Gila monsters are South American lizards that give a venomous bite. Various substances have been isolated from this reptilian venom, including a peptide that extraordinarily binds to a mammalian receptor. Modification of this substance made it possible to investigate the effects of hypothalamic peptides. Professor Meeran will go on to describe the development of drugs that are now being widely used in clinical practice. The effects of Margaret Thatcher’s departure from office in 1990 will also be discussed…!
Biography: Professor Karim Meeran is Professor of Endocrinology, Head of Quality Assurance and Enhancement and Deputy Director of Education in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, and lead clinician for endocrinology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
He was awarded a Teaching Fellowship by Imperial in 2008 and now runs a governance and educational monitoring service for all the Trusts associated with Imperial, which has had a significant impact on the quality of teaching in the Faculty of Medicine.
Professor Meeran has set up an international link with the Abu Dhabi Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, and runs weekly clinical meetings there. He is one of the organisers of the National Abu Dhabi Conference in Diabetes, and has also set up training for the MRCP exam in Abu Dhabi, which he visits regularly to run an MRCP course and one on Acute Medicine.