OCTOBER 1997 FACE TO FACE WITH BY THE BOOK: NATURE: Fun at the A look back Botanic Garden. Page 9. at an historic year for the FIGHTING FIT: University The Leicester duo fighting Pages 19 to for England. Page 5 21. INSIDE PROPOSALS FOR JOINT MEDICAL SCHOOL THE Universities of Leicester and incorporating in a major fashion the based at Warwick and both to be Warwick are preparing a bid to the Coventry and Warwickshire taught the current Leicester MB Government for a joint Medical hospitals. ChB curriculum, which has recently TIN School. In a joint letter to interested been thoroughly revised to The possible creation of a joint parties in the region, Vice- incorporate the principles undergraduate Medical School is in Chancellor Dr Kenneth Edwards developed by the General Medical anticipation of the strong likelihood and Warwick Vice-Chancellor Council and published in that the Medical Workforce Professor Sir Brian Follett said: ‘Tomorrow’s Doctors’. Standing Advisory Committee will “This collaboration has emerged “We believe this joint recommend that the Government from Leicester’s desire to help development will lead rapidly to a increases significantly the number meet the national need for more genuinely innovative Medical of medical students being educated doctors and Warwick’s long School of a size capable of in the United Kingdom. standing interest in establishing a promoting high quality teaching in le http://www.le.ac.uk/ At present, Leicester Medical major presence in undergraduate an internationally competitive School has an intake of 175 medicine. research environment through co- students per year. The new “It is envisaged that the joint ordinated further development of proposal would allow an intake Medical School will permit the the strengths of both Universities.” very much greater than that at teaching of two groups of students, The proposal has been present admitted by Leicester, and one based at Leicester and one Continued on page 2 LORD ATTENBOROUGH PAYS TRIBUTE TO DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES LORD Attenborough paid an of Music will emotional tribute to Diana, be conferred Princess of Wales, at a on Evelyn memorial service held in Glennie, Leicester Cathedral. O.B.E. Lord Attenborough (musician) movingly recalled the and the occasion, on May 27, when degree of the Princess came to the Doctor of University to open the new Letters will Richard Attenborough Centre be conferred for Disability and the Arts. on Neil Flags flew at half-mast Macgregor above the University after Press Association (Director of news of the tragic death of historic occasion. the National Gallery). the Princess. Her visit to A special tribute is planned Members of the University BUL Leicester just weeks earlier on Monday November 10 at are also being invited to was commemorated by a the degree congregation for support the Diana, Princess of special edition of the Bulletin the purpose of awarding Wales Memorial Fund. and the University is honorary degrees to be held (See page 37) considering plans for a in the Richard Attenborough permanent reminder of the Centre. The degree of Doctor Tribute to Princess, see page 3. BULLETIN: Your award-winning newsletter - Heist Marketing Awards 1996 NEWS VR SURGERY TECHNIQUE VOLUME 30 NUMBER 1 IS WORLD FIRST A WORLD-first virtual-reality based operation has been developed by researchers at Leicester University and University College London. Professor Peter Bell, head of the Department of OCTOBER 1997 Surgery, hopes to use the technique within eight months to repair damaged arteries, it was revealed NEWS................................1-13 at the British Association for the Advancement of BUSINESS..........................14 Science conference in Leeds. The technique involves the use of keyhole INTERNATIONAL...........15-16 surgery to repair a weakened section of the aorta’s OUT & ABOUT............17-18 wall. This is currently done using X-rays throughout the operation; surgeons and theatre FEATURES....................19-21 staff therefore have to wear lead-lined clothes. WELCOME..........................22 The new technique will allow for a virtual patient to be created and for the surgeon to repair FUTURISTIC EXPERTISE: ARTSTOP...........................23 Professor Bell’s technique the weakened section of the aorta - an aneurysm - received nationwide media by following the progress of the surgery on a CUTTINGS.........................24 coverage and could be in monitor. BOOKS...........................25-26 operation within months Professor Bell said that 10,000 people a year are believed to die from ruptured aneurysms in England and Wales. Aortic PEOPLE..........................26-28 aneurysms are presently repaired by placing a stent - a tube of metal - RESEARCH...................29-34 to support the aorta’s wall and reduce the stress on it. However, the stent has to be traced throughout the surgery using X-rays, and it is this SPORT.................................35 prolonged exposure to radiation that the new technique will help avoid. NOTICES.......................36-37 The new VR systems will allow surgeons to visualise the path of the aorta in the body and the exact location of the aneurysm. The stent is ACADEMIC SERVICES 38-39 monitored as it is taken through the body by magnetic fields emitted CROSSWORD.......Back Page from induction coils on the probe carrying the stent. This, combined with scans of the body, provides the exact location for the stent. BULLETIN The Bulletin aims to publish news and features which inform LEICESTER – WARWICK MEDICAL LINK staff and students of developments affecting the University, and Continued from front cover to report on the decisions of Council and Senate. supported warmly by the Chief Executives of the Coventry and Tell us your news! We welcome stories and pictures from Warwickshire Health Authorities, both because of the potential for individuals and departments, so send your copy to the Editor in improvement of patient services, and also because of the boost it will give to Press and Publications, Registrar’s Office. The closing date for the next issue is Wednesday 15 October for publication in the first the recruitment of doctors in the area and to the relationships that General week in November. The Editor reserves the right to amend or Practitioners will develop with the new joint School. abbreviate copy without notice. The creation of a large Medical School with a strong research base The Bulletin is edited in The Press and Publications Office. providing a wider range of medical expertise available to all three Health Small advertisements (up to 30 words in length) should be Authorities will also have significant benefits in Leicester and Leicestershire. accompanied by cheques, payable to University of Leicester, at the following rates: Approval by the Senates and Councils of both Universities has been given House sales and lettings: £5.00 for further joint discussions, consultations with relevant external bodies, and Other sales and services: £2.00 the preparation of a draft bid document based on the creation of a joint Prices for display advertisements are available on request. Please management structure. contact Kathleen Hughes, Marketing Officer LUSU, extn 1168, to whom all adverts should be sent. Private, non-commercial announcements are carried free of charge, subject to space. The University of Leicester Bulletin includes advertising to Editor: Ather Mirza (Extn 3335) offset production costs. It should be noted that the email: [email protected] University of Leicester does not necessarily adopt or Deputy Editor: Barbara Whiteman (Extn 2676) email: [email protected] endorse the products and services advertised in the People, Books, Research, Cuttings, Notices, Artstop. Bulletin. The Bulletin cannot accept responsibility for any Reporters: Judith Shaw/Jane Pearson errors in advertisements. Design and layout: Julie Bowles The Editor reserves the right to refuse or amend any Pictures: Central Photographic Unit, advertisement. Leicester Mercury, Members of Staff. Printed by Central Reprographic Unit. Newsline: 0116 252 3335 ON-LINE BULLETIN Advertising: 0116 223 1168 Issues of the Bulletin in 1997 are accessible on CWIS via the following web address: http://www.le.ac.uk/bulletin/ 2 NEWS PRINCESS’S VISIT TO UNIVERSITY RECOLLECTED AT MEMORIAL SERVICE MORE than 1,200 people, including members of the University, gathered for a memorial ‘She had this remarkable service at Leicester Cathedral for Diana, and, in my experience, Princess of Wales, where an emotional tribute unique ability to put you at was paid by Lord Attenborough. your ease, making you feel at He recollected the recent visit the Princess that particular moment that had made to the University to officially open you were the one person in the new building for the Richard Attenborough the world to whom she Centre for Disability and the Arts. wished to talk.’ Speaking to a packed congregation, including Lord Attenborough dignitaries from throughout the city and county, Lord Attenborough told how much the visit had meant to the Princess and reiterated sentiments he had expressed a few days earlier in an article he wrote for The Times: “My most poignant memory of that event is the 25 Press Association minutes she spent with a group of severely QUEEN OF HEARTS: The Princess won the admiration of hundreds of people gathered outside the disabled young people, many with cerebral RAC – as well as those inside. palsy and in wheelchairs, who involved her in their dance display. There were no cameras,