UK Biobank Chief Executive Officer appointed

Joint press release between the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council and the Department of Health

The funders of the UK Biobank - the Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust (WT) and the Department of Health (DoH) - are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr John Newton as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Dr Newton joins UK Biobank from the Unit of Health Care Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Oxford where he has been Consultant Epidemiologist for eleven years and the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, where he was Director of Research and Development. Dr Newton has also been Director of Research and Development for the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton. While at Oxford, he also spent five years as head of a research team supporting the Government's national Clinical Standards Advisory Group.

After training at the University of Oxford and King's College London until 1982, he worked in a variety of general medical specialities before focussing on public health and epidemiology. His current research interests include:

the service and research uses of disease registers (he has recently completed a report on this in support of the White Paper 'Saving Lives');
the epidemiology and management of acne in primary care;
the effect of deprivation and occupation survival after a heart attacks; and
the use of routine hospital data in research.

Commenting on his appointment Dr Newton said; "I am delighted to have been appointed to lead the UK Biobank project at this critical stage in its development. Biobank is an extraordinary and exciting project that will allow new knowledge about our genes to be translated into real health benefits. The results from the study will enable us to understand the subtle interaction of genes and environment in relation to our health. It will undoubtedly lead to new insight into the prevention and treatment of common but serious conditions. Research of this nature takes a very long time, however, the volunteers who take part in this study can be assured they are contributing something of lasting value to future generations."

Professor Sir George Radda, Chief Executive of the MRC said; "We are very pleased to welcome Dr Newton as the CEO of UK Biobank. Dr Newton has many years experience in looking at the causes of disease and, coupled with a solid background in public health, he is ideally suited to steer the project towards answering some valuable questions about disease and the environmental factors which might influence them."

Dr Mike Dexter (see footnote below), former Director of the Wellcome Trust said: "The UK Biobank has now reached an important stage in its development. John Newton is a highly respected public health expert, of considerable experience. He will be a sound leader for the UK Biobank.

"We have listened to the views expressed through a number of consultations with the public and a team of experts has now been appointed to advise on the crucial aspects of ethics and governance for the project. There is much work to be done before the UK Biobank gets fully underway, including the appointment of the coordinating and regional centres for the project. However, this is an exciting time for what promises to be an extremely important scientific project."

Peter Greenaway, Assistant Director, Research and Development, Department of Health said: "We welcome the appointment of Dr Newton and are delighted to join with the MRC and WT, who between them have done so much to develop strengths in epidemiology and genomics for the NHS. This Government is enthusiastic and fully committed to this project and will be closely monitoring the outputs. The potential for the UK Biobank to result in improvements to the health of the UK population is enormous. It under-scores the Government's current investment for a better patient focussed health service."

Contacts
For more information, contact
Shaun Griffin in the Wellcome Trust Press Office: 020 7611 8612 Johnny Steyn in the MRC Press Office: 020 7637 6011
Alison Pitts-Bland in the Department of Health Media Centre: 020 7210 5230.

Footnotes:
1. Dr Dexter stepped down as Director of the Wellcome Trust on 28 March 2003. Professor Mark Walport, his replacement, will take up his position on 1 June 2003.

Notes to Editors

A photograph of Dr John Newton is available to download. [ 70dpi, 25k], [ 180dpi, 87k], [ 300dpi, 173k].
The UK Biobank is a major UK-based resource that will be used by the world's top scientists to explore the roles of nature and nurture in health and disease. The project will involve up to 500 000 volunteers, aged 45-69, who will complete lifestyle questionnaires and provide a blood sample for DNA and other analysis. This information, together with their medical histories, will be combined to create an anonymized national database - the UK Biobank. This will serve as a resource for scientists to investigate and determine the factors that cause the common disorders of later life, such as heart disease, cancer, Parkinson's disease, and type 2 diabetes. National and international experts in the field have rigorously and independently reviewed the science of the project, which has the support of a number of leading charities. It is being funded jointly by the biomedical research charity the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health.
The Wellcome Trust is an independent, research funding charity, established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936. The Trust's mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health. Website: www.wellcome.ac.uk
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organization funded by the UK tax-payer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health; everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK. About half of the MRC's expenditure of over £412 million is invested in its 50 Institutes, Units and Centres, where it employs its own research staff. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools. Web site at: www.mrc.ac.uk.
Fifty years after the momentous discovery of the structure of DNA, which was the culmination of research by Medical Research Council scientists, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin in London, and James Watson and Francis Crick in Cambridge, the world celebrates one of the most significant landmarks of 20th century science.