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Life Changing Discoveries in Regenerative Medicine and Diagnostics unveiled at Chief Scientific Officer's Conference

  • Last modified date:
    24 November 2009
test tubes

Exciting new developments by scientists including those working in the NHS  field of regenerative medicine and diagnostics which have the potential to  bring life-changing benefits to patients will be considered at the Chief Scientific Officer’s annual conference.

The conference for senior healthcare scientists and others working in healthcare will unveil many of these new discoveries as well as providing key policy makers and world-class scientists a platform for discussion about the role of science in delivery a 21st century healthcare system which has quality at its core.

The conference also includes an awards ceremony, which will recognise the best of the best in healthcare science.

David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, will open this year's conference with Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS Medical Director. The conference will feature sessions on regenerative medicine and the extraordinary diagnostics we might see in the next five years which will enable care to be delivered closer to home or even in the patients home, as well as how quality improvement and innovation can sit at the heart of scientific services.

One of the highlights of the conference will be ‘Science Futures’ – a discussion which will look at exciting new developments in making cartilage substitutes as well as new technologies in blood transfusion and skin grafting.  The first day will also include awards presentations for healthcare scientists including the ‘Young Healthcare Scientist of the Year Award’ and the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Healthcare Science.’

Chief Scientific Officer Professor Sue Hill said:

'We rarely get opportunities to support and congratulate the work of healthcare scientists.  This conference aims to do precisely this whilst offering a major insight into some of the most important advances in healthcare in the future.

'This is why it is so important to congratulate the important work that often goes on behind the scenes in hospitals and in GP surgeries and to give this contribution the recognition it deserves.'
Professor Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer

'Healthcare scientists are crucial to every aspect of the NHS. It is often forgotten that they are in some way involved in the delivery of almost a billion  blood tests and other diagnostic tests every year and analyse for example every  DNA sample.  This is why it is so important to congratulate the important work that often goes on behind the scenes in hospitals and in GP surgeries and to give this contribution the recognition it deserves.'

Professor Robert Brown, Head of the Centre for Tissue Regeneration Science at University College London said,

'The Chief Scientific Officers conference give many scientists like myself, a chance to talk about the exciting new developments occurring in regenerative medicine.

'I work on all the tissues that join up and hold people together such as skin, cartilage and eventually bone.  In the future, I hope that surgeons will have all the 'tools' necessary in putting patients back together using less complex surgery and total replacements such as knee replacement surgery for example.  Our method of fabricating tailored collagen tissues for repair/regeneration of injured or defective parts may make surgery easier and be more effective. Instead of replacing the whole knee we just concentrate on replacing only the defective part, such as cartilage, bone, ligament, nerve etc.'

Additional links

More information about The Healthcare Scientists Research Fellowship Awards

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