Current and future obesity services in the UK
Thursday 15th April 2021, 18.30 - 19.30
In this second of a series of three webinars focussing on obesity, hosted by ABCD and GIRFT and supported by Novo Nordisk Ltd, Professor Barbara McGowan will present an update on current and future obesity services in the UK, and Susannah Howard will talk about the commissioning perspective.
This is a Novo Nordisk Sponsored meeting
Novo Nordisk has provided sponsorship to the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) to fully fund all costs for the development and delivery of this webinar, including creation, administration, promotion and speaker honoraria. Novo Nordisk has had no influence on the content and full editorial control remains the sole responsibility of ABCD.
Speaker: Barbara McGowan
Professor Barbara McGowan is a Consultant and Honorary Reader in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital. She was awarded a PhD from Imperial College London in 2007 for investigating ‘The role of relaxin-3 on energy homeostasis and the hypothalamic-pituitary-axis’ and the role of gut hormones and other neuropeptides in appetite control.
She is R&D lead for Diabetes and Endocrinology at GSTT and the South London Specialty lead for the Metabolic and Endocrine research network. She leads the obesity bariatric service at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital where she manages patients with complex obesity. Her areas of research interest are in gut hormones and appetite control, pharmacotherapy for obesity and remission of type 2 diabetes post-bariatric surgery. She is an investigator for several obesity clinical trials and was awarded an NIHR/RCP/CRN prize in recognition of outstanding research within the NHS.
Professor McGowan is an active Trustee of The Association for the Study of Obesity, a member of the ASO obesity management sub-committee and a SCOPE National fellow. She is the Treasurer for the UK Society of Endocrinology and a member of the RCP Advisory Group on Weight and Health.
Speaker: Susannah Howard
Susannah Howard has worked in roles delivering transformation and change in health and care for most of her career. In her current role as ICS Programme Director, Susannah has worked closely with other local health and care leaders to develop Suffolk and North East Essex as one of the first Integrated Care Systems in the country. Originally trained as a psychologist, she worked in various national roles in mental health with The Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Unit, Department of Health and Commission for Health Improvement before moving to the East of England and leading the Eastern Development Centre from 2002-2010. She then established the unique NHS based business unit ‘Enable East’ for which she was named ‘Business Woman of the Year’ in the Essex Business Awards in 2013. She features annually as a Guest Lecturer in Project Management at Harvard University Extension School and has worked on several occasions with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in trauma affected countries including Sri Lanka and the West Bank and Gaza. Susannah has also successfully bid for and delivered grant funded programmes for the Big Lottery Fund totalling more than £12 million over the last 12 years. She is passionate about need for better understanding, support and treatment for those living with obesity and is a member of the national Strategic Council that advises the All Party Parliamentary Group on obesity.
Session Chair: John Wilding
John Wilding leads Clinical Research into Obesity, Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University of Liverpool. He graduated from Southampton University in 1985, where he continued his clinical training until moving to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital, London where he undertook specialist training in Diabetes and Endocrinology, and three years laboratory-based research into the neurobiology of obesity and diabetes. He has been a clinical academic at the University of Liverpool since 1996, and was appointed Professor of Medicine in 2005. He leads specialist services for severe obesity at Aintree University Hospital – designated a Centre for Obesity Management by the UK and European Associations for the Study of Obesity.
John’s research team focusses on developing new treatments and strategies to reduce the burden of diabetes and obesity-related disease. John has published over three hundred papers, chapters and review articles related to his research interests, which include clinical trials in diabetes and obesity, adipocyte biology, and studies of metabolism.
He chairs the National Clinical Research Network Metabolic and Endocrine Speciality Group. He is a past Chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity, a member of the Royal College of Physicians Advisory Group on Nutrition, Weight and Health and President of the World Obesity Federation. When not at work he likes to swim, bike and run and regularly competes in triathlons.
