Chief Scientific Office Prof Sue Hill OBE

Chief scientist gets a taste of Loughborough’s health research

Chief Scientific Office Prof Sue Hill OBE

Chief Scientific Office Professor Sue Hill OBE

NHS England’s Chief Scientific Officer visited Loughborough University on 6 February to find out first-hand the work being done in the field of health and prevention and treatment of chronic disease.

Professor Sue Hill OBE spent a day at Loughborough speaking to academics and students about the leading research being carried out under the ‘exercise is medicine’ agenda.

During her visit, Professor Hill was given an update on the PhARaoH (Physical Activity and Respiratory Health) Study – a Department of Health-funded project between Loughborough and the Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, that explores the role physical activity plays in respiratory disease development and progression.

The Loughborough team demonstrated the study’s testing protocol, showing their capability to deliver mobile laboratories which could see scientific health research carried out within local communities.

Professor Hill also met with research students in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences (SSEHS) to hear of the wealth of fundamental studies which underpin practice and interventions. Donned with fluorescent jacket and hard hat she was also given a tour of the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine (NCSEM), due to be opened in 2015 in the heart of the University campus.

Prof Hill said: “Today’s visit has shown the potential of academics and health working together to achieve positive translational benefits.

“Loughborough has used its excellence of working with elite athletes, and understanding their physiology and motivation, and translated that into approaches to improve the health of our population or to help those with long term conditions manage their conditions better.

“This work is very important to the NHS prevention and early diagnosis agenda, to intervening early and not always using drugs and other interventions. This is about using the things that are around us every day, and about us being active, engaged citizens managing our own health.”

PhARaoH project lead Dr Lauren Sherar said: 

“Professor Hill’s visit is recognition of the increasing work we do here at Loughborough in the field of health and prevention and treatment of chronic disease. We’ve been able to show her the wide range of research we do in this area, demonstrating the role we can play in driving down obesity and chronic disease, and reducing the burden on the NHS.”

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