Leeds Professors named in latest round of NIHR Senior Investigator awards
Professor Gordon Cook and Professor Robbie Foy have been announced in the new line up of NIHR Senior Investigators.
Professor Gordon Cook and Professor Robbie Foy have been announced in the new line up of NIHR Senior Investigators.
Professor Gordon Cook, pictured below, has been appointed based on his myeloma clinical and translational research portfolio where he has a primary interest in tumour immunology and immunotherapy.
Professor Robbie Foy is a GP in Leeds and through his work in implementation research, aims to inform policy decisions about how best to use resources to improve the uptake of research findings by evaluating approaches to change professional and organisational behaviour.
This latest round of appointments follows an open competition, with the NIHR appointing 43 new Senior Investigators in 2024. This brings the College of NIHR Senior Investigators to 200 active members.
NIHR Senior Investigators are among the most prominent and prestigious researchers funded by the NIHR. They are outstanding leaders of patient and people-based research within the NIHR research community. Senior Investigators receive an award of £20,000 per year of appointment to fund activities that support their research.
Commenting on his appointment Professor Gordon Cook said: “I am delighted to receive my NIHR Senior Investigator award and I am honoured to work with a great multi-disciplinary team and this award is recognition of the work we as a team do.
“Our research has both national and international impact directly for patient with multiple myeloma and this award will allow me to continue to develop our strengths and further develop our early career researchers as succession planning to keep Leeds at the centre of MM research. I am grateful for the support of University of Leeds, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, patients and carers in the delivery of my research agenda, supporting and developing others too.”
Commenting on his appointment Professor Robbie Foy, pictured below, said: “It’s great to have this recognition for the work of our team here.
There is a growing need for implementation research, to accelerate the translation of evidence into practice, but limited capacity in this field. We’ve developed Leeds as an internationally recognised research centre thanks to our interdisciplinary collaborations and strong partnerships with the NHS.”
Professor Julia Brown, Deputy Dean for Faculty of Medicine and Health and NIHR Emeritus Senior Investigator added, “Our focus in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Leeds is to improve health outcomes and quality of life for individuals and societies. This ethos is epitomised by Robbie and Gordon and it is testament to their effort and dedication that they have received these awards for such work.”
The recent appointments are added to the existing 17 Senior Investigators (including emeritus appointments) at the University of Leeds. Professor Hemant Pandit was also reappointed in this round to recognise his work in orthopaedics.
