You can register for this Inaugural Lecture on Eventbrite.

Join us to celebrate a special milestone for our new professors and hear about their inspiring career journeys. Doors for this event will open on 16:30 (BST), with the lectures to commence at 16:50. A drinks reception will be held after the lecture.

Professor Geeta Hampson

The intricate path to healthy bones

Abstract

Professor Geeta Hampson will describe her research interests in bone, calcium, and phosphate metabolism and her clinical work in managing metabolic bone disorders such as osteoporosis and renal bone disease. She will review the many factors which control and regulate bone metabolism and how these can be modulated to maintain bone health. She will also talk about her involvement, more recently, in undergraduate medical education. Her lecture will include acknowledgements to students, trainees and colleagues who have contributed and supported her journey in becoming a Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Bone Metabolism.

Biography

Geeta Hampson is Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Bone Metabolism at King’s College London and a Consultant in Clinical Biochemistry and Metabolic Medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS trust (GSTT). She graduated in Medicine from Manchester University and after specialising in Clinical Biochemistry she undertook an MRC-funded fellowship in the Faculty Xavier Bichat, Paris, to study the cellular and molecular regulation of calcium/phosphate metabolism and bone.

Her research focuses on the pathogenesis of osteoporosis and metabolic bone diseases and includes cellular and clinical studies on the effect of nutrition, autocrine/endocrine factors in the maintenance of bone health. She has been one of the lead consultants in the metabolic bone disease service at GSTT for over 20 years and has a lead role in undergraduate education at King's. 

Professor Alexandra Santos

Improving food allergy diagnosis and our understanding of the immune response to food allergens

Abstract

Most children with IgE antibodies to a specific food are not food allergic. To diagnose food allergy, IgE function is better than IgE titers. IgE characteristics that determine its function can be measured individually or altogether in the basophil activation test (BAT) or the mast cell activation test (MAT). BAT and MAT assess whether basophils or mast cells, cells involved in food allergic reactions, react to allergens in vitro. They are superior to IgE testing and can reduce the patients undergoing food challenges, which carry the risk of inducing allergic reactions, making food allergy diagnosis more comfortable and precise for patients. BAT and MAT are also a tool to explore the mechanisms of food allergy and oral tolerance to find novel targets for a definitive treatment of food allergy. 

Biography

Professor Alexandra Santos qualified in Medicine from the University of Coimbra and completed her PhD in Allergy and Immunology at King’s College London. Over the years, Alexandra has combined clinical activity with active research in food allergy, trying to improve the accuracy and safety of food allergy diagnosis and our understanding of the mechanisms of food allergy and oral tolerance to identify new targets for the definitive treatment of food allergy.

Alexandra has received multiple prestigious awards from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and additional funding from the NIH, Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), Wellcome Trust, European Commission, BBSRC and Asthma UK.

Alexandra is the Chair of the Board of Food Allergy Interest Group of European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and of the EAACI Food Allergy Guidelines.