APPLICANT - Imperial College London

the research programme according to their interests. During the clinical placement, the
trainee will develop core competencies within the context of the healthcare management of
newborn infants and their families, assist in teaching of undergraduate students and be
involved in the research interests of the department. The Divisional research programmes
are internationally competitive and in 2005, the MRC awarded funds to establish a MRC-
Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma in partnership with Asthma UK,
Imperial College and associated NHS Trusts. The associated F2 clinical attachments will be
A&E and Paediatrics.
Post 2 – Diabetes (Professor S Amiel) – based at KCH
CODE: KCL/002
F1
F2
King’s
College
Hospital
King’s
College
Hospital
General
Medicine
Diabetes/
Endocrinology
(Clinical
Attachment)
3m
4m
General
Medicine
Diabetes/
Endocrinology
(Academic
Attachment)
3m Trauma &
Orthopaedic
Surgery
3m
4m A&E 4m
General
Surgery
3m
The Diabetes Research programme has grown from observations of clinical problems in
diabetes. Prof Amiel’s major interests are prevention of hypoglycaemia in Type 1 patients
using intensified insulin therapy and the central control of metabolism in diabetes as a whole.
We have used insulin clamping, cognitive testing and neuroimaging (positron emission
tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging) to understand the generation of
symptoms in hypoglycaemia and find out what goes wrong when patients lose the ability to
recognise when their blood glucose is low; to investigate the role of insulin resistance on
appetite control and progression to obesity and Type 2 diabetes and the central actions of
incretin-based therapies and of bariatric surgery. We have developed islet transplantation in
the UK as a therapy for intractable hypoglycaemia and although this is now a clinical service,
it supports a major laboratory-based research programme in islet physiology and function.
We have a vigorous academic programme in mental health in diabetes which is currently
investigating the impact of depression at diagnosis on outcomes in Type 2 diabetes and the
role of “talking therapies” in improving diabetes control. Previous academic F2 posts have
assessed a novel method for arterializing venous blood in neuroimaging studies; developed
new protocols for assessing the brain’s response to food intake using fMRI; investigated the
potential for on-line glucose monitoring to predict hypoglycaemia risk and studied the
prevalence and duration of diabetes after liver transplantation. The associated clinical
attachments are in general medicine is with the Diabetes and Endocrine firm, allowing
exposure to specialist clinics in this field, while its primary focus is to ensure good F2 level
training in hospital medicine and in the Accident and Emergency Department.
Post 3 – Hepatology (Dr V Aluvihare) – based at KCH
CODE: KCL/003
F1
F2
King’s College
Hospital
King’s College
Hospital
General Surgery 4m General Medicine -
Liver
4m General
Medicine
Hepatology (Clinical 4m A&E 4m Hepatology
Attachment)
(Academic
Attachment)
4m
4m
The main focus of research in the laboratory is transplantation tolerance. This is divided in to
2 areas:
1. Characterisation of tolerance and rejection signatures on transplant patients using
quantitative PCR (on candidate genes), microarray analysis and immunophenotyping.
2. Tolerance inducing treatment strategies using regulatory T cells and additional
immune modulation.
www.stfs.org.uk/student/academic-programmes
Email: tfsacademicrecruitment@stfs.org.uk
Page 46 of 70
Updated: 27 May 2010