Three Edinburgh academics, including Deputy Head of School, Professor Richard Mellanby, have been selected to take part in a new programme for emerging leaders in the field of medical sciences. Image Professor Richard Mellanby, Professor Fiona Denison and Dr Marc Vendrell will participate in the two-year leadership course - called Future Leaders in Innovation, Enterprise and Research, or FLIER. The scheme aims to equip future leaders with skills to help solve key health challenges, and enable them to seize opportunities afforded by new discoveries in science, technology and medicine. Future leaders Edinburgh is the only university to have three participants in the first cohort of the programme, which is run by the Academy of Medical Sciences. The scheme will bring together emerging leaders from academia, the NHS, industry and policy organisations for a two-year, immersive and cross-sector learning experience. A launch event will bring FLIER participants together with existing leaders in the biomedical and health sectors, including the UK’s Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor. Edinburgh participants Richard Mellanby is Professor of Comparative Medicine. His research explores the relationship between nutrition, inflammation and health outcomes in companion, farm and wild animals. Fiona Denison is Professor of Translational Obstetrics at the University, and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician at NHS Lothian. Her research focuses on the areas of maternal and fetal health. Marc Vendrell is Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Imaging. His research focuses on dynamic activatable fluorophores for real-time imaging of key molecular events in cancer and inflammation. We look forward to following how this innovative programme enhances the participants’ leadership and collaboration skills, and how this shapes their approach to the pressing health challenges they hope to solve in coming years. Professor Martin Humphries FMedSciChair, FLIER programme development taskforce Related links Professor Richard Mellanby Professor Fiona Denison Dr Marc Vendrell FLIER programme Publication date 07 Feb, 2019
