TAMANEWSLETTER Medical Research Council (UK) The Gambia TAMA: Wolof. n. a talking drum VOL: 09 ISSUE: 05 / NOV - DEC 2010 Working to achieve our vision…together Meet Peter Noble, who joined the Unit in November 2010 as the new Director of Operations. Peter succeeds Michael Kilpatrick who has taken up post as the Head of the MRC Regional Centre London. Peter’s background I trained and worked as a diagnostic radiographer in the North of England specialising in CT and MRI Scanning and led an international study on workforce development for imaging departments. I became interested in general management and worked in the national health service in Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Grimsby and Liverpool and so I have learned a lot as a result of these experiences, good and bad!. next page Vaccinology Theme holds fi rst retreat DrD Aubrey Cunnington MRC (UK) The Gambia is continuing the process of reorganizing its research portfolio into three new, interlinking, scientifi c themes: Child Survival, Disease Control & Elimination and Vaccinology. Dr Beate Kampmann, the Vaccinology Theme Leader, has already begun to defi ne the future strategy of her Theme in The Gambia. An important step was the organization of a meeting for all those undertaking and supporting Vaccinology research. As a relative outsider I felt very privileged to be invited to the Vaccinology Retreat, held at the MRC Fajara campus on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th December, 2010. The intention was to showcase ongoing and future work and facilities, to develop the continued on 04 Working to achieve our vision…together Peter Noble – continued from page 1 From my role as Director of a hospital in North East London, schools and international consultancy for the UK government I moved to create a new medical school between Leeds and and DfID. I have had an interest in research on what makes Bradford [Universities]. We were successful with the bid which organisations work - from working ten years as a director, in a brought new research into Bradford, where we eventually grew large university and in health. I have been fortunate to use a the Faculty in Leeds from £20m to £100m over a 5 year period. number of tools in my recent post as Managing Director of an What I learned from that is how research has a real impact on NHS Provider Service where over two years we moved from the day-to-day delivery of care, where we launched a cohort 75 to 5 in the UK. The other great thing about this job is there study of all children born in Bradford. is an exciting and real opportunity on how we engage staff in its development. It’s one of the few organisations that is truly rooted I’ve also had experience in schools and worked with Professor and embedded in a local community and seems to be making a David Hopkins advisor to the UK Government and have been signifi cant impact on peoples lives So It’s not just about interesting infl uenced by the education systems in Sweden and Norway publications: the MRC is demonstrating real impact on mortality where they tend to put children of different ages together, so the and health both in the Gambia, West Africa and the developing younger ones have very strong role models and the older ones world. act more responsibly, overseeing the children. These schools have a stronger sense of community and they tend to be high The MRC Unit’s got a strong tradition and history. It’s gone performers. through a very diffi cult time over the last eighteen months, but I think we are now entering a new phase of development. The fi nancial challenges and pressures will still be here but we have Why The Gambia? the new Theme Leaders and there seems to be a renewed energy. Also, we’ve been quite successful recently in getting The role provides me with an opportunity to bring together external funding and there are encouraging signs about new my experiences running hospitals, university faculties, secondary 02 Working to achieve our vision…together 04 Vaccinology Theme holds fi rst retreat 05 West African Partnership move for Dr Assan Jaye 06 Call for change in treatment guidelines for severe malaria 07 News from Basse, Keneba and Caio 14 Recent Unit Publications 15 External Grants Update 16 Making quality matter 19 Putting biomed on the map 20 New Senior Manager for Laboratory Services 21 News from HR 0202 MRCMRMRCRC TATAMMAA - VOL:OL:L 0909 ISSS UE:UEE:E 055 //N NOV - DECEC 20200110 WoWorkrkinng totowawardrds a TBTB-F-Freree GGaambmbiaa sources of income. ExExplp orrinng efeffef ctc iveneness There’s very strong support for the Gambia Unit in London, and Professor Corrah has done a good job in a sttror ngn ThT ree yey ara s aggo,o Peteterr Nobble andn cololleeagagueues wow n a Hiigher ambassadorial role. [In the recent UK spep nding reevieww] tthe Educcatatioon FuF ndndinng CoC uncil grg ana t tot invnvese titigagatet whah t maakees settlement the MRC got against otherr depaartmtmentst wass verry oro gag ninisasatit onns efeffef ctivve.e Visis tit ngng fouour coontntininenentst , theyy idedenttififi ed encouraging…There are very posittiive imimprp ese sis ons of The 6 oror 7 facactoorss thhat effffeecctivee orgrgananisisatioonsn tene d toto do,o whihich is Gambia Unit externally and whhere it’t s mmooving. nonow crreattingg a nuummber ofo pubblicationo s. ThT eyey foundn that thhese e oro gag nisaatit onons teenndd to beb runu by humbm le, Involving the right people from the beginning unnasassuumim ngng indndivi idduaualsl whoho uses perfoormmana cce measurementn s,s I’d like us to move toowaards a mmuucch more integrated structuture bub t ono ly in a smmall numbber of areas.s. Sucu h leaders are likek ly so we’ve all got a cleearr sensese of wwhat we are trying to achiieve e,e, tot be mom ree infln uene tiiall and havve greatet r presence. Peter says regardless of ouo r rolees inn the orgaannisation – and thesse goals ‘TTrar did tioonnalallyy, a loot off clinin cic ana s hah ve those characttere istics: theye must be driven by the scscience. WeWe have just held a mem eting knknowow thhee peeoopplle aroundnd them annd maximim se on thoso e pep oplel ’s in London in Jannuary to start to revitalissede our strt ateggy for the sts rengthhss.. TThhey recognise that they can’t’ do everything and science – and thiss strateggy will be fi naalisesed by April. tht eeyy aree not so aautocratic.’ Thhe LoL nddon meee ting is beb ing folll owed by a seeriese of workshs opps EEfffefecttivve leaders celebrrata e success. They also spend time aand sessioionss bete wew enn Januauary and April. The impoortr ant point loloookini g at how other organisations work. As Peter coc mmentst is that pep opple feeel theyy cann inflnfl uennce the outcoc mem of tht e ‘‘Mana y problemsm [are common] across organisata ions, so we can strateegy andnd thah t the sttraategy bece omo es part ofo evev ryoness jobb benefi t by lookiing outwaard.’ here at the MRRC …W… e need clarir ty on hoow eachh deppartmment coontrir buutet s individud allyly and colo lectively to achhieevingng our viisiioon. EfE fectc ive organisations teend to have very strong mene torshih p And througgh the LeL ada errshs ip Board we’ll have an annual plan programmm es, ana d Peter concludes ‘I’ve had some very strong so that we can eviv dencn e annd deemonstrate what our impact on ror lee modele s, inclul ding doctors and academics in managerial what we are trying to achih eve. posiitit ono s. They don’t neccessarily have management training, but they have reall intuitit on andn organisations that involvve them One of thhe isssuees we arer addressing is how the MRC judges in the decision making process tend to be mum ch moro e effective..’ our successss, and we are working to agree those outcome measuures around four or fi ve areas: output (including ppublications); impact in the community in The Gambia and Academic health centres: managing the transition from good West Africa; improving the capacity of our workforce; our to great. Peter Noble, Fiona O’Neill, Andrew Kirk and ability to lead networks (not just support them); and our Edward Hillhouse Clinical Medicine 2010, Vol 10, No 1: 16–19 fi nances. Pulling together into the future [In the short time I have been here,] I’ve felt an incredible sense of commitment from everyone: there seems to be a real pulling together of people to make this work – people have moved on from where the Unit was a year ago and I am quite excited about the future - this is a special place… MRC TAMA - VOL: 09 ISSUE: 05 / NOV - DEC 2010 03 Vaccinology Theme holds fi rst retreat Dr Aubrey Cunnington continued from page 1 on public health. Martin Ota’s group presented their work on understanding the burden of TB in the Gambia, the host immune vision of synergy between groups within the Theme and between responses to tuberculosis, and on trials of new vaccines against Themes, and to identify opportunities and problems to be tackled tuberculosis and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Leading on, Martin in a coordinated manner. The strength and breadth of the existing Antonio’s team demonstrated how vaccinologists need to know portfolio was immediately apparent from the programme, and their enemies – by identifying the pathogens and monitoring the huge potential of the Unit to undertake Vaccinology research changes in their ecology and behaviour in response to vaccine was highlighted in Dr Kampmann’s opening address.