Institute for Precision Health

People

Our members make up an interdisciplinary team of leading scientists. Here, you can learn more about our institute management board and leadership team.

Find out more about Leicester Drug Discovery and Diagnostics (LD3)

Chris BrightlingCo-director

Professor Chris Brightling 

  • NIHR Senior Investigator and Clinical Professor in Respiratory Medicine
  • Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and NIHR Senior Investigator
  • Respiratory Theme Lead for Leicester NIHR-Biomedical Research Centre co-ordinates the MRC Molecular Pathology Node EMBER and is the Respiratory lead for the IMI 3TR.
  • National lead for the post-COVID consortium PHOSP-COVID and local research lead for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about Professor Brightling


Don JonesCo-director

Professor Don J.L. Jones 

Learn more about Professor Jones


Jacqui ShawCo-director

Professor Jacqui Shaw

Learn more about Professor Shaw


Lynne HowellsOperations Manager

Dr Lynne Howells

  • Extensive experience of in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo translational cancer research with a focus on therapeutic cancer prevention
  • Delivery of bench-to-bedside cancer research programmes as part of the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre Network

lh28@leicester.ac.uk


IPH commercial manager

Dr Carl Edwards

  • Extensive experience in managing development of commercial portfolios
  • Facilitates industry-led research collaborations in precision health

ce133@leicester.ac.uk


Institute Communication Support

Ms Louise Fairgrieve provides communications expertise to enhance visibility of our portfolio both internally and externally.

lf180@leicester.ac.uk

Management Board Members

  • Professor Chris Brightling
  • Professor Don J.L. Jones
  • Professor Jacqui Shaw
  • Dr Lynne Howells

and...

Professor Martin HalliwellPortrait of Professor Martin Halliwell

  • Professor of American Thought and Culture and Director of Research and Enterprise for the School of Arts
  • College of Social Science, Arts and Humanities Lead for the University’s Wellcome Trust ISSF Grant
  • Research expertise on mental health and public health in North American and Caribbean contexts, including American Health Crisis: One Hundred Years of Panic, Planning, and Politics (U. of California Press, 2021) and The Edinburgh Companion to the Politics of American Health (Edinburgh UP, 2022).
  • Co-I on ESRC-funded project between Leicester and the University of Guyana on mental health challenges in Guyana’s prison system.
  • Completing the final volume, Transformed States: Medicine, Biotechnology, and American Culture, 1990–2020, of a landmark trilogy for Rutgers University Press, charting a cultural history of mental health in the U.S. from World War II to Covid-19.

Learn more about Professor Martin Halliwell

Dr Luke BakerPortrait of Dr Luke Baker

Dr Luke Baker is a lecturer in muscle biology who's research focuses on understanding the onset and resolution of the inflammatory process in those with long-term conditions. Dr Baker's research programme brings together an interdisciplinary set of research methodologies, using a bench-to-bedside approach with the primary aim of achieving patient benefit. His research aims to identify mechanisms, develop therapeutics and test intervention efficacy in those who suffer with poor skeletal muscle health.

Learn more about Dr Luke Baker

Dr Robert FreePortrait picture of Dr Robert Free

Robert Free is a Lecturer in Health Data Science at the University of Leicester and the Director of Informatics for the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). His own research focuses on the use of advanced data science (including artificial intelligence and machine learning) to develop and translate models and technologies into data-driven tools for improving healthcare outcomes. As Director of Informatics, he oversees the BRC's new Health Informatics Platform through which he aims to facilitate and develop exciting interdisciplinary research collaborations and partnerships in data science.

Learn more about Dr Robert Free

Dr Zahir HussainPortrait picture of Dr Zahir Hussain

As a Lecturer in Fluid Dynamics, Dr Hussain’s research is focussed on the use of analytical and computational approaches to fluid flows, with a particular interest in understanding transitional and turbulent flows. He is National Lead of the UK Fluids Network (UKFN) Special Interest Group (SIG) on ‘Boundary Layers & Complex Rotating Flows’. He has employed his expertise in fluid dynamics to model flows in novel heart valves, as well as cerebral haemodynamic flows. He has led EPSRC research grants as PI and has secured over £300k of funding in recent years.

Learn more about Dr Zahir Hussain

Dr Chitra SeewooruthunPortrait picture of Dr Chitra Seewooruthun

Chitra Joined the LD3 team in Jan 2023 as the structural biologist. Chitra's work has involved developing early-stage small molecules and therapeutics across a network of interdisciplinary research groups. She provides expertise in protein expression, purification, biophysical characterisation, and structural biology in cross-collaborations across the university and with external partners. Her previous identified novel sites for small molecules on target proteins using conformational locking VHHs. Chitra has also been part of the CRUK accelerator with collaborators in Glasgow, the Institute of Cancer Research, Manchester, and the AstraZeneca Antibody Alliance Lab.>

Cian SutcliffePortrait of PGR student Cian Sutcliffe

Cian is a doctoral student at the Institute for Precision Health. His research examines the impact of anti-diabetic medication (namely SGLT2 inhibitors) on skeletal muscle health and physical function under the supervision of Professor Melanie Davies CBE and Dr Luke Baker. In 2021, Cian graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health and exercise science from Dublin City University and in 2022 gained a master’s degree in physiology and nutrition from Loughborough University. He has spent time at the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology (Ireland), KU Leuven (Belgium) and the European Space Agency (Germany). He is an Early Career Representative for The Physiological Society where he has met government officials in Westminster to voice the concerns of young scientists.

Dr Nuala MorsePortrait image of Dr Nuala Morse

Dr Nuala Morse is an Associate Professor in Museum Studies. Her research examines the ‘care work’ of culture professionals and the social role of museums in landscapes of care provision. This includes exploring the links between cultural participation, health and well-being, with previous research projects focused on stroke, mental health and dementia. She is the author of ‘The Museum as a Space of Social Care’ (2021) and a member of the Geographies of Health and Wellbeing Research Group at the Royal Geographical Society.

Learn more about Dr Nuala Morse

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