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Monday 18 May 2015

From the new bedside teaching to genetics to guide prescribing: 90th Anniversary of the Postgraduate Medical Journal


Personalised medicine has evolved from the ethics of the Hammurabi Code and Hippocrates, judgements of the apothecary and uromancer, and good bedside manner, to modern application of genetics to guiding development, selection and monitoring of medicines. The Postgraduate Medical Journal was launched in 1925 in the era of the discovery of insulin and penicillin, pioneering examples of development and introduction of life-saving and life-changing medicines during the latter three-quarters of the 20th Century.

A Symposium is being organised in London on 1st October 2015 by the Fellowship of
Professor Munir Pirmohamed
Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal, with speakers to include
FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine
Professor Munir Pirmohamed is currently David Weatherall Chair in Medicine at the University of Liverpool, and a Consultant Physician at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.  He is also the Associate Executive Pro Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research and Head of Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology.  He also holds the only NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics in the UK, and is Director of the M.R.C. Centre for Drug Safety Sciences, and Director of the Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine.   He is also an inaugural NIHR Senior Investigator, and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK. He has authored over 370 peer-reviewed publications.
Professor Pirmohamed's research focuses on individual variability in drug response (including anti-cancer drugs), both safety and efficacy, with a view to evaluating the mechanisms, and identifying strategies to personalise healthcare in order to optimise drug efficacy and minimise toxicity. The work spans the whole spectrum from discovery to implementation with laboratory based studies being linked translationally to patient studies, with the aim being to develop the evidence base that can move discoveries from the lab to the clinic, and from clinic to application.  Professor Pirmohamed has received a number of honours including most recently, the William Withering Medal from the Royal College of Physicians.
Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years. 
Other speakers will include FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on evolution of asthma and COPD over 90 years, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery, FPM Fellow Andrew Marsh, who will discuss new approaches drug discovery, Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, Professor Dudley Pennell (London) on advances in imaging the heart, Dr June Raine (MHRA, London) on vigilance and risk management of medicines, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William OslerProfessor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time, and Dr David Wilkinson, President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (London) on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years.
More on the Symposium, the Postgraduate Medical Journal and the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

TB of the lung: from the 1920s to current treatment


In 1923, in England and Wales over 32,000 people died of tuberculosis of the lung and over 8,000 people from tuberculosis affecting other parts of the body. 
To understand the significance of these figures, it is important to know what survival rates were
for tuberculosis  at the time. Some idea can be gained from data from the Frimley sanatorium for patients admitted there with tuberculosis. For the decade up to 1914, for mild tuberculosis, 10 year survival was 2 out of 3 for men and 6 out of 7 for women, for moderate (Stage 2) disease, 10 year survival was less than 1 in 5 for men, and one in 2 for women, and for severe (Stage 3) tuberculosis, only 1 in 10 man and women survived for 10 years. The focus of treatment in the 1920s involved a combination of rest, in a sanatorium if affordable, surgery to remove affected tissue, or to rest the lung, and a range of often toxic medicines. Despite major advances in understanding, prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, it remains a serious global problem, with, in 2013, according to the World Health Organisation, 9 million people falling ill with TB and 1.5 million dying from the disease.

A Symposium is being organised by the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal
 

Speakers will include 
- Dr Paul Nunn, former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, who will speak on tuberculosis: the White Plague, 1925-2015: a world of two halves
- FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on
evolution of asthma and COPD over 90 years

- Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace,  
- Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, 
vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  
- FPM Fellow chemical biologist Andrew Marsh (Warwick) who will discuss advances in drug discovery
FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery  
- FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine,  
- Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler  
- Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time
- Dr James Wilkinson (London), President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists on
on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years


The Symposium will be held at the Medical Society of London on 1st October 2015. Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years. 
 

From public health to drug discovery: 90 years of the Postgraduate Medical Journal


A Symposium is being organised by the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. The Symposium will be held at the Medical Society of London on 1st October 2015. Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years.
Speakers will include FPM Fellow Andrew Marsh, who will discuss new approaches drug
Andrew Marsh
discovery. Andrew Marsh is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, applying a multidisciplinary approach to Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry.  Current projects include the use of Magic Tag technology developed collaboratively at Warwick to understand polypharmacology of clinical therapeutics and the development of new small molecule inhibitors and targets against Respiratory Syncytial Virus. He was educated at Imperial College and carried out postdoctoral research with Jean-Marie Lehn, Strasbourg and in the Centre for Self-Organising Molecular Systems, Leeds.
Other speakers will include FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on evolution of asthma and COPD over 90 years, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery,  Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, Professor Dudley Pennell (London) on advances in imaging the heart, FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William OslerProfessor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time, and Dr David Wilkinson, President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (London) on development of anaesthesia over the past 90 years.

Friday 1 May 2015

From public health to new approaches to asthma and cancer: 90 years of the Postgraduate Medical Journal

A Symposium is being organised by the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine to mark the 90th Anniversary of its first official journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. The Symposium will be held at the Medical Society of London on 1st October 2015.
Speakers on the day will comment on what medicine was like in the 1920s, current progress in their field, and what is in prospect over the next 90 years.
Speakers will include FPM Fellow Professor Peter Barnes FRS, London, who will speak on advances in respiratory medicine, Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians who will discuss opportunities to improve public health through a focus on health in the workplace, Professor Melanie Davies (Leicester) on progress in managing diabetes, vascular surgeon Professor Alison Halliday (Oxford) on carotid surgery to prevent stroke,  FPM Fellow chemical biologist Andrew Marsh (Warwick) who will discuss advances in drug discovery, FPM Fellow cardiac surgeon Wade Dimitri (Coventry) who will discuss early development of heart surgery  Dr Paul Nunn (London), former Director of the WHO Tuberculosis Programme, on advances in managing tuberculosis, FPM Fellow Professor Munir Pirmohamed (Liverpool) who will discuss Progress in Personalised Medicine, Emeritus Professor Terence Ryan (Oxford) on Sir William Osler and Professor Karol Sikora (London) on cancer - a disease of our time.

The Postgraduate Medical Journal
publishes topical reviews, commentaries and original papers on themes across the medical spectrum. It provides continuing professional development for all doctors, from those in training, to their teachers, and active clinicians, by publishing papers on a wide range of topics relevant to clinical practice.

Papers published in the PMJ describe current practice and new developments in all branches of medicine; describe relevance and impact of translational research on clinical practice; provide background relevant to examinations; and papers on medical education and medical education research. 

The FPM is a British non-profit organisation founded in the autumn of 1919 as a merger of the Fellowship of Medicine and the Postgraduate Medical Association, with Sir William Osler as its first president. Its initial aims were the development of educational programmes in all branches of postgraduate medicine. 

The FPM organises clinical and research meetings and publishes two journals. The FPM has since 1925 published the international journal, the Postgraduate Medical Journal. In 2012 the Fellowship launched a new international journal, Health Policy and Technology, published on the Fellowship's behalf by Elsevier.