Professor John O’Brien and Professor David Burn have today joined the Co-ordinating Centre leadership team as Associate Directors
1 July 2010
John O’Brien is Professor of Old Age Psychiatry at Newcastle University and an honorary consultant at Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust. He is appointed as National Lead for Dementia, as a replacement for Professor Alistair Burns who has moved on to the role of National Clinical Director for Dementia at the Department of Health. Professor O’Brien will be stepping down from the post of Director of North East DeNDRoN once a replacement has been appointed.
David Burn is Professor of Movement Disorders Neurology at Newcastle University and an honorary consultant at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is appointed as National Lead for Parkinson’s Disease, as a replacement for Professor Andrew Lees who has stepped down following five years in the post. Professor Burn will continue as the Chair of the DeNDRoN Clinical Studies Group for Parkinson’s until a replacement has been appointed in due course.
“Although we were sorry to see Alistair and Andrew move on, we are thrilled to have attracted people of the calibre of John and David to take on the mantel. The past five years has seen a fundamental shift in the environment in which clinical research is developed and delivered in dementias and neurodegenerative diseases. John and David will be using their significant experience in the field to ensure DeNDRoN capitalises on these advances, and makes a significant contribution to improving outcomes for people affected by dementias and neurodegenerative diseases.” Professor Martin Rossor, Director, NIHR DeNDRoN.
Notes
John O’Brien is Professor of Old Age Psychiatry within the Department of Psychiatry and the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University. His research interests include investigations of structural and functional neuroimaging in dementia and depression, dementia with Lewy bodies and the role of vascular factors in late life affective disorders and dementia. He is an active clinician and has lead consultant responsibility for the Newcastle Memory Clinic. He was Chair of the Scientific Committee for the 2005 International Psychogeriatric Association Stockholm Congress and the 2006 International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology (ICGP) Hiroshima meeting and is currently President-elect of ICGP.
Professor David Burn is Professor of Movement Disorder Neurology at Newcastle University and Honorary Consultant Neurologist for Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust. He is also Director of the Clinical Ageing Research Unit, located on Newcastle General Hospital’s newly established Campus for Ageing and Vitality. He qualified from Oxford University and Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School in 1985. His MD was in the functional imaging of parkinsonism. He runs the Movement Disorders service in Newcastle upon Tyne and his research programme is conducted through Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Health. Research interests include nondopaminergic complications of Parkinson’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.
National Lead for Dementias Job Description 
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National Lead for Parkinson's disease Job Description (85 kb