Dr Nikhil Thapar BSc (Soton). BM(Soton). MRCP (UK). MRCPCH PhD (UoL)
Having attained the MRCPCH Dr Thapar went on to complete his core Specialist Registrar training in Portsmouth. He developed an interest in Gastroenterology and left the region to train in the sub-speciality by virtue of the National Treasure sub-speciality rotation based in the North Thames London region. These included posts at the Royal Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospitals, as well as hepatology training at King’s College Childrens Liver Unit. During this time he became especially interested in the management of gastro-intestinal Neuro-muscular disorders, he went on to complete doctoral (PhD) training at the National Institute for Medical Research London, where he researched the development of the gut nervous system and use of stem cell therapies.
Dr Thapar returned to the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2004 where he is pursuing his academic career and research interest as a clinician scientist. He is also an honorary Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital
Jeremy Powell-Tuck
Jeremy Powell-Tuck is Professor of Clinical Nutrition at Barts and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is a consultant gastroenterologist at Barts and the London NHS Trust with a particular interest in artificial feeding and intestinal failure. He links with the Wingate Institute at the Royal London Hospital, which has a long standing research interest in severe chronic intestinal dysmotility.
Research Activity
My research is orientated to the assessment and management of acute and chronic intestinal failure in order to improve nutritional support in hospitalised patients and patients with long term intestinal failure needing treatment at home.
Refeeding syndrome is an important cause of mortality after hospitalisation in developing countries and is increasingly recognised as a major metabolic complication associated with the refeeding of patients in hospital here. Study 1 addresses in detail the endocrine and metabolic responses to refeeding in the unusual context of a compliant faster, not complicated by disease. Study 4 adds to our knowledge of body composition changes during fasting.
We have been working with colleagues on the Intensive Care Unit to enhance nutritional support in critical care. Patients fed early, enterally do best clinically and we have been studying the gastric emptying responses to continuous and bolus feeds in patients on the borderline of enteral feed gastro-intestinal intolerance. This (2) is a pilot study in normals developing a technique which can be subsequently used on the ICU. The studies in critical care have been analysed and will shortly be submitted.
Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) provides support for those with long term gastro-intestinal failure. The only alternative is intestinal transplantation which carries a high mortality. It s important to assess the changes in QoL as people start on HPN, so that we can find ways of improving it and so that we can better decide who should be referred for transplantation. This study is a UK-wide multicentred study looking, for the first time, at longitudinal changes in QoL over the first year on HPN.
Professor Qasim Aziz PhD, FRCP
Professor of Neurogastroenterology
Director, Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology
Biography
Professor Aziz graduated from King Edward Medical College , Lahore , Pakistan . He started his training in general medicine in the UK in 1988 and worked as senior house officer and registrar at Hope Hospital Salford. He started his research training in 1992 and held the posts of lecturer, senior lecturer and professor of gastroenterology at Hope Hospital , University of Manchester between 1994 and 2006.
He moved to Barts and The London in December 2006. Professor Aziz has pioneered the use of neurophysiological techniques to study human brain gut interactions in health and disease. His PhD work led to the identification of the cortical representation of swallowing muscles.
He also identified the cortical centers involved in processing gut sensation. He currently holds the MRC Career Establishment Award and prior to that was an MRC Clinician Scientist. He was awarded the Sir Francis Avery Jones Research Gold Medal by the British Society of Gastroenterology in 1998 and the Janssen Award for Basic and Clinical Research by the American Gastroenterology Association in 2000. He is currently the Chairman of the Neuro-Gastroenterology Section of the British Society of Gastroenterology and a member of the executive committee of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility.
His major research interest is to study the mechanisms of visceral pain in health and disease. His work has contributed to the current understanding of the brain neural networks involved in processing human gut sensation using functional brain imaging techniques. He has a particular interest in how the perception and the brain processing of visceral pain are modulated by psychological factors. In addition he has studied the role of inflammation / injury in sensitising visceral nerves in health and in functional gastrointestinal disorders. His current research interests include the study of psycho-physiological factors that predict the inter-individual variability in pain perception.
Dr Nigel Meadows MD FRCP FRCPCH
Lead clinician for paediatric gastroenterology. Role in coordinating the activities of the department and collaborating with academic unit. Also is responsible for the running of our network of outreach clinics throughout the south east of England.
I am a member of the council of the British Society of paediatric gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. In this capacity I chair the Clinical Standards committee.
I am also a member of the Royal College of paediatrics and child nutrition committee, and the British Society of Gastroenterology Clinical standards committee.
I am an active member of the British artificial Nutrition surgery (BANS), and sit on the Paediatric Intestinal Failure group.
I am a member of 2 patient support groups. National association of Crohns and Colitis (NACC) and Pseudo obstruction Research Trust (PORT), in which capacity I act as a medical advisor.
My activities in the Royal College include being a Senior examiner for the MRCPCH exam. In terms of undergraduate exams I am an external examiner for the University of London at St Georges Hospital.
My research interests include the provision of artificial nutrition support any dysphagia in children. I lecture nationally on feeding difficulties in children and obesity.
Dr Nikhil Thapar BSc (Soton). BM(Soton). MRCP (UK). MRCPCH PhD (UoL)
Having attained the MRCPCH Dr Thapar went on to complete his core Specialist Registrar training in Portsmouth. He developed an interest in Gastroenterology and left the region to train in the sub-speciality by virtue of the National Treasure sub-speciality rotation based in the North Thames London region. These included posts at the Royal Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospitals, as well as hepatology training at King’s College Childrens Liver Unit. During this time he became especially interested in the management of gastro-intestinal Neuro-muscular disorders, he went on to complete doctoral (PhD) training at the National Institute for Medical Research London, where he researched the development of the gut nervous system and use of stem cell therapies.
Dr Thapar returned to the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2004 where he is pursuing his academic career and research interest as a clinician scientist. He is also an honorary Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital
Other Team Members
Professor Joanne Martin Dr David Burleigh
Dr Andrew Hubball Ms Alison Chambers Dr Alan Burns
Dr Virpi Smith Professor Peter Milla Dr Amanda Barlow
Dr Marco Metzger Professor Agostino Pierro Dr Paolo De Coppi
Mr Charles H Knowles MBBChir, PhD, FRCS, FRCS (Gen Surg)
Biography
Charles Knowles undertook his preclinical training at Cambridge University and then moved to the London Hospital Medical College , qualifying in 1992. He quickly progressed with a career in surgery, passing the FRCS examination ( London ) in 1996. Prior to specialist training, he undertook a considerable body of research based at Barts & the London , and funded by the Royal College of Surgeons of England . During this time, he was awarded the degree of PhD at the University of London entitled ‘clinical and aetiological studies in slow transit constipation'. He continued to actively participate in research during Specialist Registrar training (General Surgery) in the North-East Thames Region in the role of Clinical Lecturer in Academic Surgery.
Jo Martin
Qualified at the Cambridge University and Royal London Hospital Medical College in 1984 and, following House appointments, was awarded an MRC Training Fellowship in 1988, a MRC Fellowship in 1990, and Wellcome Trust Advanced Research Training Fellowship in 1991. Following her PhD she was appointed Clinical Senior Lecturer/Consultant Histopathologist in 1996. She has over 100 papers including Nature group journals and Science, being made Professor of Neuropathology in 2001, and Professor of Pathology in 2009. She was the only clinical member of a major European mutagenesis consortium to develop new models of disease and developed some of the key screening methods still in use.
As Director of Academic Health Sciences at Barts & The London NHS Trust and School of Medicine and Dentistry she is responsible for research and education. Her clinical interests lie in the highly specialized area of the pathology of gastrointestinal motility disorders, in which area she has published widely, including describing new findings, and working with surgical, medical and science based groups internationally.