Three internationally-leading professors have been appointed as Professorial Chairs for the Academic Centre for Healthy Ageing (ACHA), a new centre created by Barts Health NHS Trust and Queen Mary University of London, with £6.6 million from Barts Charity.
Through research, education and training, ACHA aims to transform how our health and care services support people as they age, improving healthy ageing in our community and beyond.
Professors Adam Gordon, Liz Sampson, and Hamish Simpson will help deliver this goal through their work developing ACHA’s strategic initiatives and future plans. In combination they bring tremendous track records of transformative internationally-leading to Queen Mary and Barts Health and healthy ageing across north east London and beyond.
Introducing our new professors
Professor Adam Gordon, MBE, joins ACHA and Queen Mary’s Wolfson Institute for Population Health. He is an academic geriatrician and the current President of the British Geriatrics Society, focused on improving health outcomes for older people living with frailty. His research on improving healthcare delivery in care homes has shaped national policy to ensure residents get the care they need.
He said: "I’m thrilled to be joining ACHA and to lead efforts to improve rehabilitation and recovery for older people in north east London. I look forward to working with colleagues across Barts Health and Queen Mary to advance research and create impactful strategies that support recovery and resilience in older adults.”
Professor Liz Sampson also joins ACHA and Queen Mary’s Wolfson Institute of Population Health, while continuing her clinical work at East London NHS Foundation Trust. She is internationally renowned for her work on dementia and cognitive frailty in hospital patients. Her work aims to better understand and manage the interactions between physical and mental health in older people.
She said "This is a great opportunity to lead research on cognition and mental health in older people. This initiative will make a major step change in the quality of life for older adults. I am excited to start working with the diverse research and clinical networks that ACHA will support”.
Professor Hamish Simpson, FRSE, joins ACHA and Queen Mary’s Blizard Institute and is a leading expert in orthopaedics and trauma with a focus on limb reconstruction and treatments for osteoarthritis. He is the first orthopaedic surgeon to be awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is the incoming President of the International Combined Orthopaedic Research Societies.
He said “I am honoured to join ACHA and contribute to its groundbreaking work in addressing the challenges of long-term conditions in elderly patients. I look forward to leading research that aims maintain mobility and enhances return of function after injury in older individuals, and to working with the local community to develop innovative solutions that promote and enhance healthy ageing."
Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, Queen Mary Vice Principal (Health), said: “I am delighted that Queen Mary and Barts Health have been able to recruit these outstanding clinical academics who will transform care pathways to promote healthy ageing through this new centre funded by the Barts Charity.”
ACHA’s strategic initiatives and future plans will be presented at its formal launch planned for January 2025.
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