Professor Ian Greer to be new Dean of the Hull York Medical School
Posted on 21 June 2006
Professor Greer is a leading researcher in pregnancy and women’s health and has combined his research career with academic posts at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities and in the Medical Research Council Reproductive Biology Unit. He has held clinical appointments at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow. He serves on Research Boards such as the Medical Research Council’s Physiological Systems and Clinical Sciences Board, of which he is deputy Chair, and is Chair of the UK’s National Advisory Committee for Enquiries into Maternal Health.
He joined the University of Glasgow as Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1991. He was Head of the Division of Developmental Medicine there from 2002 to 2004, and also served as Acting Dean for periods in 2003 and 2004.
Professor Greer’s clinical interest is in medical disorders in pregnancy and high risk pregnancy. His research interests focus on haemostasis and thrombosis, vascular and metabolic disorders in women’s health, and the physiology and pharmacology of childbirth.
HYMS is a joint venture between the Universities of Hull and York and the NHS. It admitted its first medical students in 2003 and is consolidating its research base with strong collaborative links in and between the two universities and clinicians in the region.
HYMS has the vibrancy of a new medical school with a tremendous vision for the modern training of doctors
Professor Ian Greer
Students at HYMS are based at one of the two universities for their first two years, and have clinical placements in primary care and hospitals in North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire. The first doctors from HYMS will graduate in 2008.
The HYMS curriculum provides an unusual variety, with rural and urban contrasts, strong emphasis on community-based medicine, and a focus on problem-based learning, evidence-based treatment, communications and management skills.
The School has already attracted significant accolades, including a ranking of 2nd place in The Guardian’s list of the best medical schools.
Commenting on his appointment, Professor Greer said: "HYMS has the vibrancy of a new medical school with a tremendous vision for the modern training of doctors. It is able to draw on the different and complementary strengths of two universities and a strong NHS community.
"The quality of medical education at HYMS is already recognised as excellent. This bodes well for the developing research agenda, which I am very much looking forward to promoting, and which will reap rich benefits not only for medical research and education, but also for the health of the community in North and East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. I am delighted to be joining such a progressive and ambitious medical school and look forward to its continued success."
Professor David Drewry, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull said:
"The appointment of Ian Greer as the next Dean of HYMS will give medical research and education a great boost in our region and further advance its national and international profile. The School has established itself quickly and innovatively in the two universities and with the NHS, thanks to the leadership of the founding Dean, Professor Bill Gillespie. Professor Greer will oversee the maturing of these important partnerships."
Professor Brian Cantor, Vice-Chancellor of the University of York said: "We are very pleased to have attracted a researcher of Ian Greer’s calibre to develop the HYMS research agenda. I am confident that under his leadership, the strong partnership between clinical and academic researchers in the HYMS community will lead to important medical developments. He joins HYMS at an exciting time."
Notes to editors:
- Ian Greer will succeed Professor Bill Gillespie, the founding Dean, who has run HYMS since March 2003. Professor Gillespie, a former orthopaedic surgeon, was previously Dean of the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He trained in Edinburgh and worked there and at the Christchurch School of Medicine in Otago, New Zealand and the University of Newcastle, New South Wales.
- Professor Ian Greer is 48. He was the youngest person to be
appointed professor and head of a dept of obstetrics and gynaecology in
the UK in the 20th century, taking up the post at the age of 33.
Ian Greer graduated from the University of Glasgow. His awards include the MRCOG Gold Medal, the William Blair Bell Memorial Lectureship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Bernhard Baron Travelling Scholarship in Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Watson Prize Lectureship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
He is chair of the Scottish Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity Review Advisory Group, and Co-Chair of the Scientific and Standardisation Sub-Committee on Women’s Health of the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis. He is a medical advisor to Action on Pre-eclampsia, and Trustee to ‘Lifeblood’ the Thrombosis Charity, and has served on several committees of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology.
He has written, co-authored or edited 11 books for health professionals, contributed to 18 national or international guidelines and published over 330 peer reviewed original papers, review articles and book chapters. He has also produced a book for patients, Pregnancy: The Inside Guide. - The success of HYMS is reflected in the demand for places from prospective students. Last year HYMS had 2,000 applications for 130 places. HYMS is part of a three-year project, sponsored by the Action for ME charity, to create a 'research observatory' gathering comprehensive data on a range of important clinical and social factors which affect people suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
- The University of Hull has expertise in cardiology, biomedical sciences, cell and molecular medicine, psychological and primary care medicine, and medical engineering and technology. The University of York is ranked 34th in the world's top 100 universities for biomedicine according to the Times Higher Educational Supplement. Principal areas of medical and health research expertise at York include health economics, health services research, functional imaging, cancer (epidemiology and biology), immunology and infection, adult stem cell research, public health and mental health. Both universities have successful nursing schools.