Three UHNM consultants appointed to research professorships
Three UHNM consultants have been awarded research professorships in recognition of their career achievements.
Dr Pensee Wu, Consultant Obstetrician, and Dr Mark Lambie, Consultant Nephrologist, have been appointed professors at Keele University, whilst Dr Timothy Scott, Consultant Anaesthetist, has been appointed professor at Staffordshire University.
Their roles as Chairs at their respective Universities reflect research projects carried out at UHNM as well as national and internationally.
Dr Pensee Wu said: “My parents are medical scientists and professors in microbiology and biochemistry, so I got to go to their work growing up, and quite liked the idea of working in a hospital and solving patient’s problems. They taught me you could be a doctor and a researcher.
“During medical school you had to try lots of different subjects and Obs and Gynae was the only thing that resonated with me. I get to work with women and improve their lives, and I find that rewarding and resonate with their issues more.
“As I was going through my training, I realised that maternity was something that really interested me as I developed an interest in high-risk pregnancies. Pregnancy is a time when people are really happy and looking forward to the future, but unfortunately sometimes things go wrong, or complications happen, and I felt like I could make a difference and improve women’s pregnancy experiences.
“My job is half clinical at UHNM, and half research at Keele University. My day-to-day role at UHNM includes performing caesarean sections, spending time on the labour wards looking after women in labour and giving birth, or a clinic day with women and helping those with problems.
“At Keele University, I carry out applied health research, looking at clinical problems, for example preeclampsia and how we monitor high blood pressure better after giving birth. I also work with routinely collected data, which is annonous medical records and looking at patterns of disease and what happens to people over their lifetime.”
“I am very grateful to those I work with and those who have helped me along the way, including my mentors and collaborators. I feel amazing to have the recognition for the work I’ve done, and that motivates me to do more work.”
Dr Mark Lambie said: “I’ve been a consultant at UHNM since 2011, but did my first registrar job here in 2002, and started research work in 2008.
“As a medic, I realised I wanted to do hospital specialities, but I didn’t want to be a surgeon or a GP. I once asked my brother why he chose to do renal medicine. He gave me a long list about why renal was a good speciality, and I thought that was a fairly compelling argument.
“My daily clinical work involves outpatient clinics, getting onto the ward and seeing patients, but its mainly dialysis is where I do the most work, be it peritoneal dialysis or haemodialysis.
“There’s lots of things I get satisfaction from, and what I like about renal medicine is the patient contact. Kidney disease tends to be a lifelong thing, so that means you get to see a patient over many years and obvsiuouly get to know them quite well, building a long-term relationship with them. I find this changes the nature of doctor-patient relationship for the better.
“My professorship started when I did my research at UHNM in 2008, with Professor Simon Davies, at the start of my PhD. When I came here as a consultant, it was always with a view to it becoming and academic role, and I became a senior lecturer in 2013, which allowed me to have a roughly even split of academic to clinical work.
“It was never really a direct career goal of mine to become a professor, but it is quite nice to become one. It’s quite odd however to have your title changed when you’ve been a doctor for 26 years, but it is quite satisfying.”
Dr Timothy Scott said: “ I’ve been a Consultant Anaesthetist and Intensivist since 2014, anaesthetising trauma and spinal lists in UHNM’s large and busy Critical Care Unit.
“I always wanted to be a doctor, and always wanted to be a doctor in the navy, so I’m also a military doctor currently, serving in the Royal Navy.
“My career highlights include completing a trauma fellowship in Baltimore, travelling around the world, including three medical tours in Afghanistan, and getting to be involved in international research on a wide variety of areas.
“The role at UHNM varies to the Armed Forces most in the age of patients. Patients here are older with more medical problems, whilst in a military setting you have a young population of previously fit people.
“I undertook a PhD with Nottingham University, which I completed in 2019, researching a phenomenon called ‘blast lung injury’. I’ve been involved with computer modelling of lung injury with Warwick University, and reseach with Staffordshire University to do with intercranial pressure in traumatic brain injury.
“The professorship recognises all the work that myself and my colleagues have been doing for several years, so I’m pleased with the recognition.”