3rd Jan 12
Knighthood award for obesity expert
by Sally Davies
Giving a helping hand: knighthood for obesity expert
Giving a helping hand: knighthood for obesity expert
An innovator in the field of diabetes and obesity research has been bestowed a knighthood honour in the New Year’s Honours List. Imperial College London’s Professor Stephen Bloom has been deemed an “outstanding clinical academic” who has revolutionised how obesity is studied and understood.
Christine Mills, who founded the charity Hope for Tomorrow, has also received an MBE for starting the first mobile chemotherapy unit in the United Kingdom. Also among the honours are five nurses.
Professor Bloom has been leading a research team exploring gut hormones and appetite control systems. The group’s discovery that oxyntomodulin minimises appetite provides a possible new treatment for obesity.
Professor Bloom expressed his delight in receiving his knighthood, calling it a testimony of all the efforts made by colleagues with whom he had collaborated over the years.
He called it a unique time in the narrative of scientific research, as researchers are finally able to figure out the details of how the human body works and therefore help in the prevention of disease.
The knighthood recipient announced that the research group which enabled the honour is currently working at full capacity, adding that they believe they have a significant lead in treating obesity. He called obesity the “most dangerous pandemic” on earth, adding that no opportunity should be missed to making a real breakthrough.
Professor Sir Keith O’Nions, who is rector of Imperial College London, called Professor Bloom’s research “pioneering”, saying that it had changed the way medics are seeing obesity, for the greater good of all in society.
Christine Mills founded the Hope for Tomorrow after her husband passed away from spine cancer. She wanted to reduce the suffering of those commuting long distances to and from the doctor for chemotherapy treatment.
Mrs Mills raised enough funds to construct the globe’s first travelling chemotherapy unit, a mobile medical facility complete with two nurses which is able to treat 12 – 20 cancer patients per day on the road.
According to Mrs Mills, it costs about £250,00 to contruct and maintain the mobile chemotherapy units for up to three years, which the charity loans to the National Health Service. The units currently operate in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
She expressed her pride in helping cancer patients, saying that she often receives letters from them. She called her efforts a tribute to her late husband and all the sponsors that made it possible. A wide variety of professions were also honoured in medicine and health.
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