Professor Nicholas S Peirce MBE

Professor Nick Peirce is Chief Medical Officer for England and Wales Cricket Board, having been in post since 2007. He has recently stepped down from the NHS, after over 20 years as Consultant in Sport and Exercise Medicine and Head of Service at Nottingham University Hospital, with his NHS post including clinical delivery from the National Centre for SEM East Midlands as well as a Specialist Advisor role to PHE. He retired as lead Sports Physician for Nottingham Forest FC in 2018, after 17 years.

Originally trained in Family Medicine, Professor Peirce moved into Sport and Exercise Medicine in 1995 and established a Consultant post in 2001 following an MSc in Sports Medicine, a 2-year Lectureship at Nottingham University, and subsequently an overseas Sports Medicine Fellowship at the Australian Institute of Sport. He has worked extensively with all aspects of medical care for athletes including establishing and leading the English Institute of Sport at Loughborough University for 7 years, CMO for GB World Class Canoeing Programme 1997-2017, Great Britain Rowing, Team GB, and LTA Great Britain Davis Cup team 2001-2007 until moving to cricket. Prof Peirce has attended the Sydney and Athens Olympics, and the Commonwealth Games.  He was awarded the British Association of Sports Medicine travelling scholarship in 1998 and led the ECB, BMJ award for Sport and Exercise Medicine Team of the year in 2013 and has been a member of international councils for ICC and ICF as well as international working parties for areas such as concussion. Most recently he was awarded an MBE, for Services to Sport during the COVID-19 pandemic.

His NHS role included leadership in strategy with a focus on health initiatives around prevention, physical activity and prehabilitation. He has been heavily involved in various aspects of healthcare development including the lead for Training Programmes in the East Midlands, Council member for the Faculty for SEM and SAC, and Chair of National Recruitment and Workforce planning for Sport and Exercise Medicine.  He has also been involved in anti-doping appeals and MSK developments.

Prof Peirce currently practises as a Sport and Exercise Medicine Consultant via Bupa and Spire Healthcare.

Early research included extensive involvement in invasive exercise physiology and metabolic medicine research as a lecturer and research fellow at the Nottingham School of Biomedical Sciences with Prof Paul Greenhaff and Prof Ian Macdonald and collaboration with Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre.  This research focussed on diabetes and exercise, insulin sensitivity, CHO and creatine ingestion, and protein synthesis in relation to nutrition.

After a period of significant commitment to clinical sports medicine, renewed research programmes have been developing around elite athlete work around female athlete bone health, adolescent bone development, concussion, protective equipment, injury surveillance in professional and recreational sport, lumbar spine stress fractures, wellbeing, sport and physical activity, osteoarthritis and sport, and cardiac screening. He currently supervises 6 PhDs at Loughborough, Bath, and Bangor Universities and St George's Medical School.

Other activities include editorial boards for CJSM and BJSM, and reviewer for multiple journals, ICC Medical Committee and active involvement in translation through chairing BSi Committees and Taskforces for physical activity and mental health.

Married and a father of two, Nick enjoys cycling, skiing, Norfolk beaches, and returning to family routes in New England when possible, including seeing the New England Patriots. He still plays the odd game of cricket but is resigned to watching his kids be much better at sport (and, in fact, almost everything) than he ever was. At some point, as and when time allows, Nick would like to go back to writing, having previously had a regular column in the Observer when it ran its Sports Monthly edition.

• Alway P, Peirce N, Johnson W, King M, Kerslake R, Brooke-Wavell K. (2022). Activity specific areal bone mineral density is reduced in athletes with stress fracture and requires profound recovery time: A study of lumbar stress fracture in elite cricket fast bowlers. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. Oct;25(10):828-833. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2022.08.006.
• Goggins, L., Peirce, N., Griffin, S., Langley, B., Jowitt, H., McKay, C., Stokes, K., & Williams, S. (2022). The impact of covid-19 related disruption on injury rates in elite men’s domestic cricket. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(06), 526–532. DOI: 10.1055/a-1652-5352
• Keylock, L., Alway, P., Felton, P., McCaig, S., Brooke-Wavell, K., King, M., & Peirce, N. (2022). Lumbar bone stress injuries and risk factors in adolescent cricket fast bowlers. Journal of Sports Sciences, 40(12), 1336–1342. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2022.2080161
• Filbay, S. R., Bullock, G. S., Sanchez-Santos, M. T., Arden, N. K., & Peirce, N. (2022). A higher playing standard, bowling, and intermittent helmet use are related to a greater odds of injury or concussion in cricket. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 32(3). DOI: 10.1097/jsm.0000000000000933
• Alway, P., Wedatilake, T., Peirce, N., Warren, A., King, M., & Brooke-Wavell, K. (2022). Bone Health and asymmetry in elite female cricketers. European Journal of Sport Science. DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2022.2065929
• MacLachlan, H., Dhutia, H., Bhatia, R., Boden, K., Forenc, K., Basu, J., Miles, C., Osborne, R., Chandra, N., Malhotra, A., Stuart, G., Peirce, N., Sharma, S., & Papadakis, M. (2022). Results of a nationally implemented cardiac screening programme in Elite Cricket Players in England and Wales. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 25(4), 287–292. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2021.12.001
• Deshmukh, S. R., Donnison, E., Karantana, A., Newman, D., & Peirce, N. (2022). Epidemiology of hand fractures and dislocations in England and Wales professional cricketers. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(04), 381–386. DOI: 10.1055/a-1539-6955
• Goggins, L., Warren, A., Osguthorpe, D., Peirce, N., Wedatilake, T., McKay, C., Stokes, K. A., & Williams, S. (2022). Detecting injury risk factors with algorithmic models in Elite Women’s Pathway Cricket. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(04), 344–349. DOI: 10.1055/a-1502-6824
• Goggins, L., Langley, B., Griffin, S., Peirce, N., McKay, C., Stokes, K., & Williams, S. (2022). Hamstring injuries in England and Wales Elite Men's domestic cricket from 2010 to 2019. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 25(6), 474–479. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2022.02.001
• Keylock, L., Felton, P., Alway, P., Brooke-Wavell, K., Peirce, N., & King, M. (2022). Lumbar bone mineral adaptation: The effect of fast bowling technique in adolescent cricketers. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 54(3), 438–446. DOI: 10.1249/mss.0000000000002820
• Stone, B., Mitchell, S., Miyazaki, Y., Peirce, N., & Harland, A. (2021). A destructible headform for the assessment of sports impacts. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, 237(1), 7–18. DOI: 10.1177/17543371211055905
• O'Halloran, P., Goggins, L., & Peirce, N. (2021). Observable player behaviours and playing performance following helmet strikes in Elite Cricket. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 7(4). DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2021-001128
• Goggins, L., Peirce, N., Griffin, S., Langley, B., Stokes, K., McKay, C., & Williams, S. (2021). 040 injuries are negatively associated with team performance in professional cricket. Free Communications, 55(Suppl.1), A17-A172021. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2021-ioc.38
• England, R., Peirce, N., Torresi, J., Mitchell, S., & Harland, A. (2021). The potential for transmission of coronaviruses via sports equipment; a cricket case study. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(12), 1058–1069. DOI: 10.1055/a-1500-4620
• Goggins, L., McKay, C., Peirce, N., Stokes, K., & Williams, S. (2021). “you come up with different theories every year”: Practitioner perceptions of injury risk factors and player monitoring practices in Elite Men’s domestic cricket. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 16(3), 804–814. DOI: 10.1177/1747954121990354
• England, R., Peirce, N., Wedatilake, T., Torresi, J., Kemp, S., Cook, M., Mitchell, S., & Harland, A. (2021). The potential for airborne transmission of SARS-COV-2 in sport: A cricket case study. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(05), 407–418. DOI: 10.1055/a-1342-8071.
• Goggins, L., Peirce, N., Stokes, K., & Williams, S. (2021). Negative association between injuries and team success in professional cricket: A 9-year prospective cohort analysis. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 24(2), 141–145. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2020.07.007
• McCabe, T., Peirce, N., Gorczynski, P., & Heron, N. (2021). Narrative review of mental illness in cricket with recommendations for Mental Health Support. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 7(1). DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000910
• Alway, P., Felton, P., Brooke-Wavell, K., Peirce, N., & King, M. (2021). Cricket fast bowling technique and lumbar bone stress injury. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 53(3), 581–589. DOI: 10.1249/mss.0000000000002512
• Kemp, S., Cowie, C. M., Gillett, M., Higgins, R., Hill, J., Iqbal, Z., Jackson, P., Jaques, R., Larkin, J., Phillips, G., Peirce, N., & Calder, J. (2021). Sports medicine leaders working with government and Public Health to plan a ‘return-to-sport’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: The UK’s collaborative five-stage model for Elite Sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 55(1), 4–5. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102834
• Griffin, S. A., Mendham, A., Krustrup, P., Murray, A., Peirce, N., Larkin, J., Jaques, R., Cowie, C. M., Stokes, K. A., & Kemp, S. P. T. (2021). Team sport in a COVID-19 world. A catastrophe in waiting, or an opportunity for community sport to evolve and further enhance population health? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 55(3), 130–131. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102963