We are delighted and honoured to have Dr John Scadding chair our Research Committee.  Dr Scadding is honorary consultant neurologist to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London. Previously, he was consultant neurologist at Whittington Hospital, honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Neurology, and honorary consultant neurologist to the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Society of Musicians, and St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy. Since 2003 he has been a trustee and member of the Board of Management of the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, Putney. He was appointed Dean of the Royal Society of Medicine in 2006. He has a career-long clinical and research interest in the mechanisms and treatment of chronic pain related to neurological disease. He was a co-convenor of the James Lind Alliance, an organisation formed in 2004, dedicated to the effective involvement of patients in research on treatments.  Dr Scadding was instrumental in helping us run the ‘Medicine and Me’ meeting in October 2008.

The research committee comprises of patient and scientific representatives and reviews research proposals presented to the Trust for funding as well as identifying themes of interest and patient priorities.

Current members of the Committee are:

Dr Roger Barker, Honorary Consultant in Neurology at The Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair

Peter Berners Price, Trustee of The Cure Parkinson's Trust

Dr Joy Duffin, Trustee of The Cure Parkinson's Trust and CEO/founder of Biotech healthcare companies

Dr Tom Foltynie, Senior Lecturer & Honorary Consultant Neurologist, Institute of Neurology, London

Tom Isaacs, Co founder and President, The Cure Parkinson's Trust and Patient Advocate

Helen Matthews, Patient Co ordinator, The Cure Parkinson's Trust. Minutes and corodinates the meetings.

Dr Richard Wyse, Head of Research, The Cure Parkinson's Trust (see profile below)

 

Dr Richard Wyse joined us in October 2007 as Head of Research  and Development.  Richard has an impressive academic record in both laboratory and clinical research:  He is president of the genetics section of the Royal Society of Medicine, a vice-chairman of its academic board and a trustee.  He has chaired over 30 international conferences, published four books and around 120 academic articles.

Richard joined the charity as he was struck by the dynamism he found within it – with everyone sharing the urgency to help find a cure for Parkinson’s.  He says: “I realise this is a special time for Parkinson’s – the science, medicine and basic understanding in Parkinson’s are coming together as never before, making a cure, or at least an alleviation of symptoms, within reach.  Many groups are doing excellent work around the world but they aren’t always well aware of relevant developments in other, equally vigorous, research based therapeutic areas, but the building blocks are there.  I want to encourage this cross reference to galvanise the research towards a cure,”

Part of Richard’s role has been to map the state of Parkinson’s research around the world, encouraging cross reference of projects as and when necessary, as well as identifying exciting projects and committed researchers needing funding, and commissioning research. 

Richard is also tasked to work closely with our eminent Scientific Advisory Team (SAT) who assess projects prior to us committing funds.