Academics join Fellowship of The Academy of Medical Sciences
Two academics from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s are among 48 new Fellows elected by The Academy of Medical Sciences this week. They are:
• Professor John Strang, Chair in the Psychiatry of Addictions and Head of Addictions Department
• Professor Clive Ballard, Professor of Age Related Disease, Co-Director of the Centre for Age Related Disease and Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Unit for Dementia
The Fellowships, which recognise excellence in medical research, innovative application of scientific knowledge and service to health care, will be formally awarded at a ceremony on Wednesday 1 July 2015.
Professor Shitij Kapur, Executive Dean IoPPN and Deputy Vice-Principal (Health) at King’s said: ‘I am delighted that the Academy has recognised the talent that we have here at IoPPN. Please join me in warmly congratulating our colleagues. The Academy includes the UK’s leading medical scientists and these new fellowships are recognition of John and Clive’s contribution to cutting edge science and its translation into health benefits for society.’
Professor John Strang is one of only six senior addictions researchers outside North America identified by the Institute for Scientific Analysis as a “Highly Cited Author” with a rate of citation in the “top one half of one percent of all publishing researchers in the last two decades”. He has published extensively in the addictions field, with more than 500 publications and is also Leader of the Addictions CAG (Clinical Academic Group) of King’s Health Partners AHSC (Academic Health Science Centre). He has extensive experience as a Lead Clinician in charge of a wide range of treatments in community and residential settings and has been a Consultant Psychiatrist in addictions treatment for over 30 years. Professor Strang has chaired and/or served on key committees or guidelines groups for the Department of Health, for NICE (the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) and for the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Professor Clive Ballard has published widely in the areas of dementia with Lewy bodies/Parkinson’s disease dementia, vascular dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with dementia, including more than 25 influential clinical trials in this area. He has more than 500 research publications including papers in Nature, New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet. He has an extensive ongoing programme of research including key NIHR programmes focussing on improving the treatment and care for people with dementia living in care homes; MRC, HTA, commercial and charity funded clinical trials focussing on treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms and disease modifying therapies for people with early Alzheimer’s disease and an extensive drug discovery programme in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease dementia including substantial support from the Wellcome Trust, industry, Safra foundation, other charities and a European Union programme examining stem cell therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. As well as academic appointments at King’s, Clive Ballard served as Director of Research for the Alzheimer’s Society between 2003 and 2013.
Other IoPPN Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences include: Professor Stephen McMahon, Professor Avshalom Caspi, Professor Tony David, Professor Judy Dunn, Professor Shitij Kapur, Professor Michael Kopelman, Professor Andrew Lumsden, Professor Karen Steel, Professor Philip McGuire, Professor Sir Robin Murray, Professor Peter McNaughton, Professor Andrew Pickles, Professor Robert Plomin, Professor Sir Michael Rutter, Professor Christopher Shaw, Professor Graham Thornicroft, Professor Sir Simon Wessely, Professor Steve Williams. Emeritus include Professor Malcolm Lader, Professor Peter McGuffin, Professor Sir David Goldberg, Professor John Gunn and Professor Eric Taylor.
Dr Menelas Pangalos FMedSci, also elected this year, is Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca’s Innovative Medicines and Early Development Biotech Unit. He is a visiting Professor at King’s College London and a recognised leader in Alzheimer’s disease research. He has published more than 130 peer reviewed articles, and is currently overseeing the creation of AstraZeneca’s new £330million research facility in Cambridge.