Key people in translational medicine, personalised healthcare and public health research

Professor Stuart Logan

Cerebra Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology and Director of Institute of Health Service Research, Peninsula Medical School. Theme Leader for Translational Medicine. Director of PenCLAHRC.

Major areas of research are the evaluation of complex interventions, particularly in childhood disability, and on the effects of social inequalities on child health. His particular interest is the generation of research of direct relevance to policy and practice and helping to make research more accessible and useful to practitioners and to families.

Professor John Campbell

Professor of General Practice and Primary Care, Peninsula Medical School

Professor Campbell shared responsibility for the development and evaluation of the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire, currently recognised and used within the general practice national contract. Current projects include development of a survey instrument to assess the views of users of out-of-hours primary care services, and several projects around the mental health needs of primary care patients. Professor Campbell is responsible for the Primary Care Research Group within Peninsula Medical School which is also part of the Mental and Physical Health Interdisciplinary thematic network, bringing together interests from primary care, the School of Sport and Health Sciences and the Mood Disorders Centre.

Professor Roger Eston

Professor and Head of School of Sport and Health Sciences

Professor Eston is internationally recognised for his research in exercise physiology and kinanthropometry, the study of the measurement of human body composition and how it relates to movement and performance in varying conditions. His research includes anthropometry and physiology relating to health and performance in adults and children.

Professor Tim Frayling

Professor of Genetics of Complex Traits, Peninsula Medical School

Professor Frayling is Associate Professor in the Molecular Genetics (Diabetes) research group, Peninsula Medical School, where he leads the polygenic work concerned with type 2 diabetes. The group seek to define genetic determinants of human disease. His research team, together with colleagues from Oxford University, MIT and Harvard, last year identified the first common gene variant to affect height.

Professor Andrew Hattersley

Professor of Molecular Medicine and Consultant Physician, Peninsula Medical School

Professor Hattersley and his team in the Molecular Genetics research group have worked to understand the precise genetic mutations which cause diabetes in individual patients and found that this can have a marked effect on the type of treatment required.

Their latest work has centred on children diagnosed with diabetes in the first six months of life. The Exeter team have found four new genetic causes of this type of diabetes and importantly more than 50% of these children can swap their insulin injections for sulphonylurea tablets and get better blood sugar control. For more information about neonatal diabetes and Andrew Hattersley's research see this YouTube video.

Professor Willem Kuyken

Professor of Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology, and Co-founder of the Mood Disorders Centre

Professor Kuyken's research and clinical work specialise in cognitive behavioural therapy approaches to recurrent depression, with a specialist interest in case conceptualization and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

Professor Thomas Lynch

Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy research group in the Mood Disorders Centre, School of Psychology

Professor Lynch's research expertise is in the understanding and treatment of mood and personality disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder) among adult and older adult populations using a translational line of inquiry.

Professor David Richards

Professor of Mental Health Services Research, School of Psychology

Professor Richards is at the forefront of national and international efforts to improve access to treatment for those suffering from high prevalence mental health problems such as depression. His research interests focus on the effectiveness of low-intensity psychological treatments for depression, and of such organisational delivery models as collaborative care and stepped care in the treatment of depression.

Professor Angela Shore

Director of Biomedical and Clinical Science, Professor of Vascular Physiology and Deputy Director of the Peninsula NIHR Clinical Research Facility, Peninsula Medical School in Exeter. Director of the Clinical Microvascular Research Group.

Professor Shore's research explores the role of the microcirculation in the pathophysiology of disease. Diabetes is often accompanied by clinically apparent microvascular problems in the kidney or eye. Her work has revealed that subtle microvascular dysfunction not only precedes the development of diabetes but is also a common feature in patients with other conditions such as hypertension, atherosclerosis or renal disease.

Professor Adrian Taylor

Professor in the School of Sport and Health Sciences

Professor Taylor's main area of research interest is the effects of exercise on psychological well being, and understanding how best to promote physical activity to enhance such outcomes. He leads the research and curriculum developments in sport and exercise psychology in the School.

Professor Edward Watkins

Professor of Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology (Mood Disorders Centre)

Professor Watkins' research expertise is in: cognitive behavioural approaches to depression; cognition and emotion; onset, maintenance, recurrence, treatment and prevention of depression; ruminative thinking, worry, autobiographical memory, emotional processing, problem solving, transdiagnostic processes, procrastination, and being effective.

Associate Professor Craig Williams

School of Sport and Health Sciences

Professor Williams' research interests are within the area of fatigue and high intensity exercise.