NUH Research and Development Team Member Short Biographies

• Dr Brian Thomson

  Director of Research

  

  Dr Brian Thomson, Director of Research

  Dr Brian Thomson qualified in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh and trained in medicine in Edinburgh, London and Cambridge before being appointed an Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant Physician in Nottingham in 1987. Dr Thomson has held MRC Training and Clinician Scientist Fellowships in London and Cambridge and was awarded a PhD in 1992. Dr Thomson has a particular interest in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This has taken the form of both basic biomedical research into the pathogenesis of disease and the development of novel models for the management and treatment of HCV in the community. Dr Thomson has been Director of Research and Development at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust since 2007.

• Dr Maria Koufali

  Deputy Director of Research & Innovation

  

  Dr Maria Koufali, Deputy Director of Research & Innovation

  After graduating from King’s College London, in Medical Biochemistry, Maria qualified as a Clinical Biochemist at the Medical School of Athens. A PhD in mitochondrial neuroscience followed from the University of Dundee in 2001, combined with further research in the areas of p53 activation and siRNA silencing. She is now working towards an MBA qualification. Maria joined the NHS in 2005 as Research Fellow in Liverpool, where she led the development of a clinical research portfolio of epidemiological and medical device studies in the therapeutic area of stroke. She also worked closely with Industry and Academic partners at the Stroke Research Network. Following a postgraduate diploma in Performance and Innovation Management, she joined the challenging world of research management. Maria strives to develop research capacity and capability whilst fostering a culture for the diffusion and adoption of innovation within the Trust. Maria is committed to embedding research into core NUH business.

• Dr Jetta Holmes

  Commercial Trials Manager

  

  Dr Jetta Holmes, Commercial Trials Manager

  After graduating from Glasgow University with a degree in Medical Biochemistry, Jetta continued at Glasgow to complete a PhD in stroke research. Following this, Jetta undertook Post-doctoral research at New York’s Cornell University. In 2007 she took up a Clinical Research Associate role within the Pharmaceutical Industry where she fostered partnerships between Industry and the NHS. Recognising the importance of these partnerships in furthering research and patient care, she joined the Trust’s R&D department as our Commercial Trials Manager in 2010.

  Jetta is key in driving a programme of changes which will establish NUH as a leading partner for Industry by consistently delivering the highest quality research on time, budget, and target.

• Rachael Wilmott

  Information Coordinator

  

  Rachael Wilmott, Information Co-ordinator

  After obtaining qualifications in both Accountancy and IT, Rachael spent the majority of her career working in Service Delivery Management of Financial Systems, primarily with The Boots Company specialising in Problem and Incident Management resolution. Her roles have included Team Management and Technical Support for various computerised systems including Finance systems, EPoS and Customer Relationship Management systems. This work has covered the life cycle of the system, through design, project management, system testing, system support, decommission of legacy systems and data migration. Rachael joined NUH R&D in early 2009 as an Information Co-ordinator with a focus on accurate capture and recording of data.