In anticipation of the general election in 2010, the Academy of Medical Sciences outlined its vision for UK medical science. The vision highlighted how groundbreaking advances in medical science offered the next UK Government an unprecedented opportunity to reinvigorate the economy, to enhance the productivity of the NHS and to make public services more cost-effective.
This report led directly to the commissioning by Government of the Academy's report on the regulation and governance of health research. The key points outlined in the report continue to underpin our policy work.
Sir David Cooksey GBE FMedSci (Chair)
Chairman
UK Financial Investments
Professor Fran Balkwill OBE FMedSci
Professor of Cancer Biology and Centre Lead for Translational Oncology, Centre for Cancer and Inflammation Barts and the London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry
Professor Sir John Bell FRS HonFREng PMedSci
Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford
Professor Carol Dezateux CBE FMedSci
Director of the MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health, Institute for Child Health, University College London
Professor Sir Andrew Haines FMedSci
Director, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Ron Laskey FRS FMedSci
Honorary Co-Director of the MRC Cancer Cell Unit, University of Cambridge
Dr Melanie Lee FMedSci
Director, Think10
Professor Sir Alex Markham FMedSci
Professor of Medicine, University of Leeds
Professor Patrick Maxwell FMedSci
Head of the Division of Medicine, University College London
Professor Terence Rabbitts FRS FMedSci
Director of the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds
Professor Jonathan Seckl FRSE FMedSci
Director of Research at the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Professor Stephen Smith FMedSci
Chief Executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Principal of the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London
Professor Patrick Vallance FMedSci
Senior Vice-President for Drug Discovery, GlaxoSmithKline
Observer
Sue Middleton
Director of Corporate Government Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline
The vision document made seven key points:
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To benefit patients the NHS must become a willing participant in health research.
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The regulatory environment is driving medical science abroad
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Innovative incentives must firmly root the medical science industries in the UK
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Publicly funded health research needs further coordination
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Public health challenges must become cross-Departmental priorities
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Health research should be used as a driver of foreign policy and international Development
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The UK must grow and sustain its world-class biomedical workforce for our knowledge economy