IMS Epidemiology

Seminar – 11 November 2015 – Dr Janis Baird / Dr Christina Vogel
2015-11-11 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
How do local food environment factors and psychosocial factors affect the dietary behaviours of mothers with young children and what are the implications for dietary inequalities?
by Dr Janis Baird and Dr Christina Vogel, of MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology, University of Southampton.
Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract

Quality of diet is associated with level of disadvantage: findings from the Southampton Women’s Survey demonstrate that women with lower levels of educational attainment have significantly poorer diet quality than those with higher attainment. The poor diets of mothers with low educational attainment are of concern not only for their own health but particularly for the short- and long-term health of their children. A number of psychological and social factors, including self-efficacy and sense of control, have been associated with mothers’ level of educational attainment and dietary quality, but understanding of how local environmental factors interact with individual level factors in determining diet is more limited.
This seminar will focus on a programme of observational and complex intervention research that aims to understand and improve the dietary behaviours of women of childbearing age from disadvantaged backgrounds. We will describe the findings of our observational research examining associations between local food environment factors, individual factors and the dietary behaviours of mothers with young children, and will outline how our observational findings are being translated into complex community-based interventions.
About Janice Baird
Janis Baird is Associate Professor of Public Health Medicine at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton. Her research focuses on the translation of evidence of the developmental origins of health and disease into public health policy and practice. Janis co-leads a series of complex intervention studies which aim to improve the health and nutrition of women of childbearing age, with a particular focus on reducing inequalities. As well as having extensive experience of systematic review, she also has an interest in process evaluation and between 2011 and 2014 Janis chaired a group of researchers, funded by the Medical Research Council, who developed guidance on process evaluation within complex intervention studies.
Since 2009, Janis Baird and Christina Vogel have carried out research to characterise the food environments of women living in Southampton and explore their influence on women’s dietary quality. Their observational work is now informing the development of multi-level interventions which aim to improve diet by combining environmental strategies with individual-level behaviour change. Read more.
About Christina Vogel
Christina Vogel (nee Black) has had a long term interest in understanding what is it that makes people choose to eat the foods they do and, accordingly, completed undergraduate training in Nutrition and Dietetics and in Psychology at the Newcastle University, Australia. Christina has worked in public health nutrition for ten years in Australia and Europe. Her work has involved designing and delivering programs in remote indigenous and urban communities, conducting population health observational and intervention research, and developing public health policy. Christina has worked at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, UK since 2009. She is part of the team that designed, implemented and evaluated the ‘Healthy Conversations Skills’ workforce development intervention and has developed a programme of observational research to enhance understanding of how the local food environment affects the dietary behaviours of mothers with young children.
Supported by an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship, Christina completed her PhD in 2014. Her research is the first in the UK to examine the psychosocial and educational pathways between the local food environment and dietary behaviours. She has developed a number of novel environmental metrics to describe place-health relations. Her work in structural equation modelling has been used to identify environmental, social and psychological focal points for an intervention to improve the dietary behaviours of mothers and their families which is in the early stage of development. Read more.
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Seminar – 27 November 2015 – Dr Audrey de Nazelle
2015-11-27 13:30 - 14:30 UTC | MRC Epidemiology meeting rooms 1&2, Level 3 IMS, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar by Dr Audrey de Nazelle of the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London
Selected results from the Transportation, Air pollution and Physical ActivitieS (TAPAS) comprehensive research programme on active travel
MRC Epidemiology meeting rooms 1&2, Level 3 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre
Abstract
Encouraging active travel has many benefits, but also perhaps some associated risks, and certainly much uncertainty still in how it works and how to estimate its impacts. The TAPAS programme was developed to tackle in a comprehensive way the multiple questions surrounding active travel, from its promotion to its overall impacts. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the health impact assessments developed in TAPAS, and cover some key results from the travel survey conducted in Barcelona and from the epidemiologic analysis on the combination of air pollution exposure and physical activity.
About Dr de Nazelle
Dr Audrey de Nazelle is a Lecturer in Air Pollution Management at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London. She is an expert in risk assessment and exposure science. Her research is at the intersection of environmental sciences, health behaviour, transportation, and urban planning. Her work aims at guiding decision makers towards health-promoting built environments and policies. It involves novel and holistic approaches to assessing behavioral, environmental and health impacts of urban plans and policies. Read more.
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Seminar – 8 December 2015 – Professor Larry Frank
2015-12-08 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | MRC Epidemiology meeting rooms 1&2, Level 3 IMS, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to a CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar by Professor Larry Frank of the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.
About Professor Frank
Dr. Frank is the Bombardier Chairholder and Professor in Sustainable Transport and the Director of the Health and Community Design Lab at the University of British Columbia. He specializes in the interaction between land use, travel behaviour, air quality, and health. He has been studying the effects of neighbourhood walkability on travel patterns and sustainability for 25 years and has led over $20 million in funded research and lead or co-authored over 200 peer reviewed articles and reports, as well as two of the leading books, Health and Community Design and Urban Sprawl and Public Health, on these topics. Read more.
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CANCELLED: Seminar – 10 December 2015 - Dr Derek Yach
2015-12-10 11:00 - 12:00 UTC | TBC
We are very sorry to announce that the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar by Dr Derek Yach of the Vitality Institute has been CANCELLED.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Dr Derek Yach is Senior Vice President (SVP) of the Vitality Group, part of Discovery Ltd, where he leads the Vitality Institute. Previously, Dr. Yach was SVP Global Health and Agriculture Policy at PepsiCo, headed global health at the Rockefeller Foundation, was a Professor of Global Health at Yale University, and is a former Executive Director for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health of the World Health Organization (WHO). At WHO, he served as cabinet director under Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland where he led the development of WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the Global Strategy on Diet and Physical Activity. Read more.
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Seminar – 18 January 2016 – Dr Jennifer Badham / Dr Ruth Hunter
2016-01-18 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Using agent-based modelling for designing public health interventions: the SSNAP project
by Dr Jennifer Badham and Dr Ruth Hunter, of the UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast.
Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
Agent-based modelling (ABM) is becoming increasingly popular in public health. Applications include intervention development, understanding complex public health systems and evaluating the public health impact of public health interventions.
This seminar will introduce the opportunities for ABM in public health, describe how it can be useful for developing public health interventions and discuss some of the challenges.
SNAP (Social Networks and Physical Activity) is a public health intervention that utilises social networks (i.e. the connections between people) to promote physical activity. To optimise the way in which those connections are used, we are first building a simulation (SSNAP) using ABM to test different intervention designs.
The seminar will be of interest to public health interventionists, public health modellers and physical activity researchers.

Seminar – 04 February 2016 – Dr John Powles
2016-02-04 11:00 - 12:00 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Estimating the global burden of disease attributable to excess sodium within the GBD2010 study

by Dr John Powles of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
Sodium intake increases blood pressure, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study we carried out a study to model the estimated effect of sodium consumption on mortality. We quantified global sodium intake, by age, sex, and country, based on urinary and dietary surveys from 66 countries representing 74.1% of the world population. We quantified blood pressure effects of sodium, by age, race, and hypertension, in a new meta-analysis of 107 trials; and blood pressure effects on cardiovascular mortality, by age, from meta-analysis of cohorts. Cause-specific mortality was derived from the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study. We estimated cardiovascular impacts of current sodium intake, compared with reference intake of 2.0 g/d, using comparative risk assessment, by age, sex, and country. In this modelling study, 1.65 million cardiovascular deaths were attributed to sodium consumption above a reference level of 2.0 g/d.
About Dr John Powles
Dr Powles graduated in Medicine from Sydney University, Australia in 1968. He subsequently spent 4 years in the UK then 16 years at Monash Medical School in Melbourne before coming to Cambridge in 1991. In Cambridge he has worked especially on East/West health differences in Europe, public health policies in developed countries and graduate education in public health. (For the University’s 800th anniversary he also helped create the walking tour 800 years of death and disease in Cambridge). Since retiring in 2011 he has continued teaching and research as an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow. Department of Public Health and Primary Care profile.
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Tackling obesity with Big Data – Seminar 16/03/16 – methods & models
2016-03-16 09:00 - 14:00 UTC | Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, 8 Mill Lane, Old Press Site. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1RX, United Kingdom
ESRC Strategic Network: tackling obesity with Big Data, Seminar 2 – methods and models
This is the second of four seminars held by the ESRC Obesity Strategic Network, to explore how Big Data can best be used to understand and tackle obesity.The seminar will be presented by:

Adam Drewnowski, School of Public Health, University of Washington
Darren Greenwood, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine
James Woodcock, CEDAR & MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge
Robin Lovelace, School of Geography, University of Leeds

The panel discussion with be facilitated by Seraphim Alvanides, and include the seminar speakers along with Sandy Tubeuf and Daniel Lewis.
Full agenda and booking at www.cdrc.ac.uk/research/march-2016/
For further information contact Michelle Morris m.morris@leeds.ac.uk / 0113 343 0883
About the network
Increasing volumes of ‘data’ about individual behaviours are becoming available through social media, mobile phone geotagging, store loyalty cards and purchasing transaction data . There are many opportunities to use these data to benefit society. One key example is to better understand how the environment in which we live influences our behaviours leading to health concerns such as overweight and obesity. A better understanding of these complex interactions offers scope for designing interventions to addressing this significant ‘wicked’ challenge.
Obesity continues to be a problem in the UK with the most recent figures reporting 67% of men and 57% of women classed as overweight or obese. Overweight and obesity are serious health concerns and are risk factors for other non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis and certain cancers. In many places the environment in which we live makes it easy to gain weight. For example, fast food outlets are regularly closer to our homes and workplaces than supermarkets with healthier food choices, and it is often safer or more convenient to drive to work rather than walk. These factors encourage individuals to eat unhealthy foods and be sedentary rather than physically active, contributing to weight gain and subsequent overweight and obesity. This setting has been termed an ‘obesogenic environment’.
In order to promote healthier eating and more physical activity; groups of professionals need to work together to better understand how to modify these environmental influences so that it is easier to eat a good diet and be more active These groups of professionals include researchers with an interest in diet and physical activity as well as involved with promoting active travel, reducing crime and improving retail planning. Real changes also need the involvement of local government, planning organisations, retailers, charities and health practitioners. Experts in data analytics are required to harness the volumes of information available and use these in a meaningful way.
This network aims to do just that – bring together many different types of researchers with policy makers, retail and third sector organisations to work collaboratively in order to plan how to make best use of the large volumes of data now available to inform research, policy and practice in the prevention of obesity.
A network like this is a prime example of how the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts and together there is great potential to make a difference.
More at www.cdrc.ac.uk

Bradford Hill Seminar -14 April 2016 - Dariush Mozaffarian
2016-04-14 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | Large Seminar Room, Cambridge Institute of Public Health, Forvie Site, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SR, United Kingdom
All are invited to the Bradford Hill Seminar:
Dietary priorities for obesity – are all calories created equal?

by Dean Dariush Mozaffarian, of Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy.
Large Seminar Room, Cambridge Institute of Public Health

This talk will be chaired by Dr Nita Forouhi
Nita leads the MRC Epidemiology Unit’s Nutritional Epidemiology programme, which aims to understand the relationship between diet, nutrition and the risk of diabetes, obesity and related disorders
Biography, Dariush Mozaffarian
Dariush Mozaffarian is Dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy, and the Jean Mayer Chair and Professor of Nutrition. The only graduate school of nutrition in North America, the Friedman School produces trusted science and real-world impact in nutrition. A board-certified cardiologist and epidemiologist, Dr. Mozaffarian’s research focuses on how diet and lifestyle influence cardiometabolic health and how effective policies can reduce these burdens. He has authored nearly 300 scientific publications on dietary fats, foods, and diet patterns; global obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases; and evidence-based and cost-effective dietary policies. Dr. Mozaffarian has served in numerous advisory roles including for the US and Canadian governments, American Heart Association, Global Burden of Diseases study, World Health Organization, and United Nations. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Time Magazine, and countless other news outlets, broadcasts, blogs, and websites.
Dr. Mozaffarian received his BS in biological sciences from Stanford (Phi Beta Kappa), MD from Columbia (Alpha Omega Alpha), and trained in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at Stanford and U. of Washington. Following his clinical training, he received his MPH from U. of Washington and Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard. Before he was appointed Dean at Tufts in 2014, Dr. Mozaffarian was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health for a decade and was clinically active on the cardiology service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is married with three children and a second degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Seminar - 11 May 2016 - Professor Terence Dwyer
2016-05-11 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
The contribution of physical activity to increased life expectancy

by Professor Terence Dwyer of the George Institute for Global Health, University of Oxford.

Meeting Rooms 1,2 &3, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus

Abstract
Recently, Terry Dwyer and his team reported their findings on the association of pedometer measured steps and mortality from a fifteen year follow up of these cohorts (Dwyer, T., et al. (2015). “Objectively Measured Daily Steps and Subsequent Long Term All-Cause Mortality: The Tasped Prospective Cohort Study.” PloS one 10(11): e0141274).
In a combined cohort of almost 3,000 subjects among whom 220 deaths occurred, a 40% reduction in mortality for those taking the highest number of steps compared to the lowest was observed. This was the first evidence from a population based cohort that PA measured objectively was inversely associated with mortality.
In this talk he will review the evidence on the relationship between PA, predominantly measured by questionnaire, and major health outcomes and put into context what this new data using an objective measure of PA adds to the overall picture. In describing how the complex puzzle of PA and health is developing he will identify what deficiencies in the evidence need to be addressed before greater certainty about the causal nature of the association can be reached.

About Professor Dwyer
Professor Terence Dwyer is a non-communicable disease epidemiologist with extensive experience in the conduct of cohort and case control studies with a focus on infant and child health.
Professor Dwyer’s research on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and sleeping position was recognised by the NHMRC, Australia, as one of the thirteen most important contributions to medical research by Australia in the 20th century. This work was mainly conducted in the Tasmanian Infant Health Survey which enrolled 11,000 infants between 1988 and 1995.
Professor Dwyer currently leads two large global cohort collaborations. The first follows around 40,000 subjects who were first measured at school age, now moving into their 5th and 6th decades, to estimate separate effects of childhood physical and lifestyle characteristics on risk of major adult diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The second is the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (14C), a collaboration of birth cohorts in more than ten countries. It aims to obtain prospective evidence on the causes of childhood cancer by assembling data on 1 million mothers and babies who will be followed through childhood.

Fenland Study Public Meeting - Ely
2016-06-14 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | The Maltings, Ship Lane, ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4BB, United Kingdom
This event is fully booked, but tickets are still available for the Fenland Study Public Meeting in Wisbech on Wednesday 6 July.
We would like to invite you to attend our Fenland Study Public Meeting at The Maltings in Ely on Tuesday 14 June 2016.
The first phase of the Fenland Study finished in 2015, with more than 12,000 volunteers from across Cambridgeshire taking part. Phase 2 is now underway, and over the next 4 years we are sending invitations to participants who attended an initial Fenland Study visit between 2005 and 2015, and who agreed to be re-contacted, to return for a 2nd visit.
To mark these milestones we are holding a series of public meetings. This is your chance to hear about progress so far, key scientific findings and our plans for future research, as well as to meet study staff and researchers.
The event will comprise of a short presentation, followed by a panel discussion where you will have the opportunity to ask the Principal Investigators questions about the study.
If you have a question that you’d like to ask the Fenland researchers, please submit it when you register, or email it to: Fenland-meetings@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
Light refreshments will be provided from 6:30pm, with presentation and panel discussion will start at 7pm.
This event is free to attend, although you will need to register for tickets in advance as places are limited. To register please choose one of the following options:

Register on Eventbrite, using the link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fenland-study-public-meeting-tickets-24489451609

Contact us via email (Fenland-meetings@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk) stating your name, preferred date and how many places you would need for the meeting.

Call the Fenland Study Free phone number on 0800 085 618

If you have any special requirements, please let us know when you register your tickets.

Fenland Study Public Meeting - Cambridge
2016-06-21 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | Wolfson Hall, Churchill College, Storey's Way, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB3 0DS, United Kingdom
This event is fully booked, but tickets are still available for the Fenland Study Public Meeting in Wisbech on Wednesday 6 July.
We would like to invite you to attend our Fenland Study Public Meeting at Churchill College in Cambridge on Tuesday 21 June 2016.
The first phase of the Fenland Study finished in 2015, with more than 12,000 volunteers from across Cambridgeshire taking part. Phase 2 is now underway, and over the next 4 years we are sending invitations to participants who attended an initial Fenland Study visit between 2005 and 2015, and who agreed to be re-contacted, to return for a 2nd visit.
To mark these milestones we are holding a series of public meetings. This is your chance to hear about progress so far, key scientific findings and our plans for future research, as well as to meet study staff and researchers.
The event will comprise of a short presentation, followed by a panel discussion where you will have the opportunity to ask the Principal Investigators questions about the study.
If you have a question that you’d like to ask the Fenland researchers, please submit it when you register, or email it to: Fenland-meetings@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
Light refreshments will be provided from 6:30pm, with presentation and panel discussion will start at 7pm.
There is ample, free parking at the College either along Churchill Road (the College’s private road) or in the main car park at the end of that road. Permits are not required. https://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/our-location/find-us/
This event is free to attend, although you will need to register for tickets in advance as places are limited. To register please choose one of the following options:

Register on Eventbrite, using the link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fenland-study-public-meeting-tickets-24490599041

Contact us via email (Fenland-meetings@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk) stating your name, preferred date and how many places you would need for the meeting.

Call the Fenland Study Free phone number on 0800 085 618

If you have any special requirements, please let us know when you register your tickets.

MRC Festival of Medical Research - Are you in a healthy place?
2016-06-22 17:30 - 19:30 UTC | University Centre, Granta Place, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 1RU, United Kingdom
Are you in a healthy place? Travel, food and our neighbourhoods
Wednesday 22 June 2016 5.30pm – 7.30pm. University Centre, Granta Place, Cambridge CB2 1RU
This event has finished, please check our events pages and twitter feed to find out about upcoming events.
The places where we live, study and work shape our behaviours and health. But how healthy are our neighbourhoods? Join science writer and broadcaster Kat Arney, and explore the latest research from the MRC Epidemiology Unit about how our neighbourhoods influence how we get around and what we eat, and what this is doing to our bodies
Bring your smartphones, opinions and questions – and take away a new perspective on where you live.
5.30 – 6.15pm: Meet the scientists
Come and grab a drink, talk with scientists about their research at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, and have some fun on interactive activities.
Learn how we gather data and how it can be used to improve health and wellbeing.
Find out how far you have to pedal to burn off a single sugar lump, and what it does to your heart rate.
Take the sugar taste test – how sweet is too sweet, and how do your taste buds compare to other people’s?
6.15 – 7.30pm: Interactive presentations
Hear about how our research is shedding light on how the places we live and work affect our health. Test your knowledge and perceptions in an interactive Q&A. The main topics will be:
What does Medical Research have to do with my commute? Cambridge is famous for being the city in the UK with the highest levels of cycling. But what is it about the environment that influences how we get around? And is enough being done to encourage everyone to be a bit more active on the commute? Researchers have been studying the health impacts of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway and other transport projects around the country to try to answer these and other questions.

Are takeaways adding pounds? Are supermarkets slimming? We might like to think that the food we eat is all a matter of personal choice, but where we live and work can affect our choices. Research is shedding light on how food outlets near our home, work and travel routes influence what we eat, and ultimately our weight and health. But how full of takeaways, supermarkets and other food shops is your neighbourhood? Do you think it affects what you eat? And what, if anything, should be done about it?

Find out about other events that took place in Cambridge during the MRC Festival of Medical Research (18 – 26 June 2016) at:
www.mrc.ac.uk/about/events/mrc-festival-of-medical-research/mrc-festival-of-medical-research-2016-cambridge/

Fenland Study Public Meeting - Wisbech
2016-07-06 18:30 - 20:00 (Europe/London) | ACT Theatre, Thomas Clarkson Academy, Corporation Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 2SE, United Kingdom
We would like to invite you to attend our Fenland Study Public Meeting at the Thomas Clarkson Academy in Wisbech on Wednesday 6 July 2016.
The first phase of the Fenland Study finished in 2015, with more than 12,000 volunteers from across Cambridgeshire taking part. Phase 2 is now underway, and over the next 4 years we are sending invitations to participants who attended an initial Fenland Study visit between 2005 and 2015, and who agreed to be re-contacted, to return for a 2nd visit.
To mark these milestones we are holding a series of public meetings. This is your chance to hear about progress so far, key scientific findings and our plans for future research, as well as to meet study staff and researchers.
The event will comprise of a short presentation, followed by a panel discussion where you will have the opportunity to ask the Principal Investigators questions about the study.
If you have a question that you’d like to ask the Fenland researchers, please submit it when you register, or email it to: Fenland-meetings@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
Light refreshments will be provided from 6:30pm, with presentation and panel discussion will start at 7pm.
There is ample, free parking in the Thomas Clarkson Academy car park.
This event is free to attend, although you will need to register for tickets in advance as places are limited. To register please choose one of the following options:

Register on Eventbrite, using the link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fenland-study-public-meeting-tickets-24491071454

Contact us via email (Fenland-meetings@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk) stating your name, preferred date and how many places you would need for the meeting.

Call the Fenland Study Free phone number on 0800 085 618

If you have any special requirements, please let us know when you register your tickets.

Physical Activity Measurement Seminar 2016
2016-09-05 08:00 - 2016-09-09 17:00 UTC | Møller Centre, Churchill College, Storey's Way, Cambridge, CB3 0DE, United Kingdom
APPLICATIONS TO THIS EVENT ARE NOW CLOSED.
On behalf of the Organising Committee of the 8th Physical Activity Measurement Seminar, we would like to invite you to join us at The Møller Centre in Cambridge, UK, for what promises to be an exciting event.
From the 5th September –9th September 2016, the MRC Epidemiology Unit will be holding its 8th seminar encouraging those who are interested or involved in the measurement of physical activity in the epidemiological setting to learn about the science and practical aspects of current techniques used in this field of research.
The primary objective of the seminar is to promote high quality field work in epidemiological studies through understanding of the underlying measurement principles and methods of data analysis.
For further information please see course pages.

Seminar – 19 September 2016 – Dr Francesca Cesari
2016-09-19 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Science publishing – behind the scenes at Nature

Dr Francesca Cesari, Chief Biological Sciences Editor at Nature.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
About Dr Francesca Cesari
Francesca Cesari is Chief Biological Sciences Editor at Nature, overseeing editorial content and management of the biological science section of Nature. She has a Master with honours in Molecular Biology from University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy, and obtained her Ph.D. from the Institute of Cell Biology in Tübingen, Germany, where she also began her post-doctoral work. She completed her post-doctoral work at The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, UK. Prior to joining Nature she was a Senior Editor of Nature Reviews Molecular Biology and briefly worked at Nature Cell Biology as a Senior Editor. She was the Stem Cell and Development Editor at Nature for some years before her appointment to Chief Biological Sciences Editor in 2014.
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Seminar – 19 October 2016 – Dr Ben Richardson
2016-10-19 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
A Capital Appetite: The Political Economy of UK Sugar Consumption
Dr Ben Richardson, Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
The consumption of sugar is about more than its intrinsic sweetness. To explain why it is ingested in dangerously high quantities, we need to appreciate its appeal to the businesses that supply and shape our collective diets. Whether suspending shelf-life, modifying meal times or encouraging over-eating, the properties of sucrose have been extremely useful in helping industrial food manufacturers subvert the natural and cultural rules governing what can be eaten, when, and in what quantities. This has been underpinned by supportive state policy governing sugar production and trade, and light-touch consumer protection. However, as the proposed soft drinks levy and post-Brexit agricultural reforms suggest, this political settlement is not beyond challenge.
About Dr Richardson
Dr Richardson is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. His research is focused on the political economy of food and agriculture. He is the author of Sugar (2015, Polity) which examines the global politics of this commodity, as well as articles on hunger, farming, and international trade policy.
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Don’t stop moving: is the digital world friend or foe in fighting a sedentary future?
2016-10-22 15:00 - 16:00 UTC | Faculty of Law, 10 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DZ, United Kingdom
This talk is finished, but you can download the slides from Professor Wareham’s presentation.
Public talk with Professor Nick Wareham as part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.
Saturday 22 October: 3:00pm – 4:00pm. Faculty of Law, 10 West Road, CB3 9DZ
Physical inactivity is a 21st Century epidemic. We have created a world where we move less and we sit more – from our drive to work, to our office desks, to our evening spent on the sofa. Technology has had a clear role in this: fostering a shift away from manual work, creating countless labour saving devices, and building a world of the omnipresent display screen. Many of these changes have brought great benefits, but they also create significant health risks that are spreading throughout the world. As well as the role of physical inactivity in weight gain, a recently published MRC Epidemiology Unit-led analysis of data from the Europe-wide EPIC study estimated that lack of exercise may be independently responsible for twice as many deaths as obesity.

But could the technology that threatens us also come to our rescue? Recent years have seen digital innovations that are aimed at getting us moving again, whether it’s a simple text message to prompt behaviour change, or wearables technologies that measure and feed back on the user’s every movements and vital sign. Indeed, we are witnessing the growth of a new movement, “the quantified self” that seeks personal knowledge and self-improvement through tracking with technology.
In this Cambridge Festival of Ideas talk Prof Nick Wareham, the Director of the MRC Epidemiology Unit and Centre for Diet and Activity Research, will examine what this technological change means for the individual, and the implications all this data has for a quantified society. How do we capture, process and make use of this data on a global scale? Can policymakers use this technology to nudge us back to a more active way of living? And what ethical implications does this create?
Registration is required to attend this talk, and booking information is available on the Cambridge Festival of Ideas website.

Can the UK cook its way to better health? - Martin White
2016-10-28 17:00 - 18:30 UTC | Old Library, Pembroke College, Trumpington Street , Cambridge, CB2 1RF, United Kingdom
Martin White, Programme Lead for food behaviours and public health interventions at the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), will deliver the sixth Worshipful Cooks’ Company Lecture, ‘Can the UK cook its way to better health?’ on Friday 28 October 2016.
Martin is a clinical academic, trained in both medicine and public health, with broad experience of public health research and practice, and a national and international reputation for his research and leadership. He has an interest in developing research on the influence of the food industry, the impact of social and policy interventions on diet, and the population impact of individual level interventions.
The lecture is sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Cooks of London. The smallest of the livery companies, it traces its origins back to the 12th century founded from two guilds of cooks in medieval London – the Cooks of Eastcheap and the Cooks of Bread Street. Today the Company’s present membership continues to include craft tradesmen, and it engages actively with a broad range of organisations and charities associated with cooking.
To book a place at this lecture, please visit: https://cookscompany2016.eventbrite.co.uk

Seminar – 02 November 2016 – Dr Greg Welk
2016-11-02 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Youth Fitness Assessment and Promotion: Insights from the Evaluation and Dissemination of FITNESSGRAM Programming.

Dr Greg Welk, Barbara E Forker Professor of Kinesiology at Iowa State University.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
The FITNESSGRAM youth fitness program has provided schools with powerful tools to evaluate and promote physical fitness in youth. The evaluation of state and national data from FITNESSGRAM has also provided unique insights about health related fitness surveillance and school based physical activity programming. The presentation will summarize approaches and methods used to refine the criterion referenced fitness standards in Fitnessgram and the application of these standards to advance public health research on youth fitness. The presentation will also summarize insights on school physical activity programming gained through the evaluation of the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project, a large participatory research network of over 1000 schools
About Dr Welk
Dr Welk is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Iowa State University. His research interests focus on the assessment and promotion of physical activity and fitness in different populations. He has conducted numerous studies on the validity and utility of different physical activity assessment tools and has also advanced youth fitness assessment and promotion through his role as the Scientific Director of the Fitnessgram youth fitness program. Dr. Welk is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the Society of Health and Physical Education (SHAPE) and an inducted member of the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK).
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Cambridge SciBar - Dr Nita Forouhi - Tuesday 8 November
2016-11-08 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | Novi Cambridge, 12 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1DB, United Kingdom
Join us at 7pm on Tuesday, 8 November at Novi Espresso and Cocktail Bar on Cambridge’s Regent Street for a special SciBar event hosted by Cambridge British Science Association and Cambridge University Health Partners in anticipation of World Diabetes Day (14 November). SciBar brings interesting, topical areas of science to the general public with scientific talks followed by lively discussion.
More than 3.5 million people in the UK have diabetes, and treating the condition and its complications accounts for about 10% of NHS spending. As fears of the human and financial cost of diabetes grow, a special event is taking place in Cambridge to reveal how advances in science may both relieve the pressure on health services and improve the lives of people with diabetes.
The free SciBar event on Tuesday 8 November from 7pm at the Novi Espresso and Cocktail Bar on Regent Street is hosted jointly by Cambridge British Science Association, Cambridge University Health Partners and the University of Cambridge, to mark World Diabetes Day.
The event will involve two talks from experts in their fields:

Dr Frank Waldron-Lynch will discuss how type 1 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in children, whose treatment usually requires the injection of insulin several times a day to replace what the body cannot produce itself. Dr Waldron-Lynch will reveal how his research is aiming to develop innovative therapies that could one day eradicate the need for regular insulin injections or insulin pumps.
Dr Nita Forouhi leads a programme of research at the MRC Epidemiology Unit that aims to understand the association between diet and the risk of, obesity, type 2 diabetes and related disorders. Dr Forouhi will speak about how her research is helping to cut through the confusing messages about diet and nutrition and to focus on the dietary priorities for preventing diabetes.

Baroness Helene Hayman, Chair of Cambridge University Health Partners, said:
In recent weeks, reports have been published predicting one in 10 adults in the UK will be at risk of developing diabetes by 2035 and the number of people with the disease could top five million if obesity rates continue to increase. The impact of this ‘diabetes epidemic’ on our Health Services could be substantial, with experts forecasting it could consume up to 17 per cent of the NHS budget. This is a serious issue which needs to be met head on through the collaboration of healthcare, scientists and industry.
At our special diabetes event, Dr Frank Waldron-Lynch and Dr Nita Forouhi will explain how new technology and knowledge can help reduce the number of new diabetes cases, and help those with diabetes manage their conditions more successfully. Join us as we bring the science and research out of the labs and databases for a lively conversation in a relaxed environment.”
Entry is FREE and refreshments are available to purchase at the bar downstairs. Pre-book your place on Eventbrite – limited tickets available on the door.

Seminar – 09 November 2016 - Adrian Bauman
2016-11-09 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Is it too early to stand up? Has the epidemiological evidence for sitting and health changed?

Dr Adrian Bauman, Sesquicentenary Professor of Public Health and Director of the Prevention Research Collaboration at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
For the past 8 years, increasing interest in the epidemiology of sedentary behaviour (SB) has fuelled academic efforts. Initial evidence seemed to suggest that SB was a new risk factor for chronic disease, independent of physical activity. Clear physiological mechanisms, supported by experimental evidence, were proposed to define the metabolic risks of prolonged uninterrupted sitting. As epidemiological evidence has accumulated, nuanced changes in the evidence base have appeared, such that sitting risk does not appear to be independent of physical activity. However, some researchers and policymakers seem resistant to apparent changes in the evidence base.
About Dr Bauman
Adrian Bauman is the Sesquicentenary Professor of Public Health and Director of the Prevention Research Collaboration at the University of Sydney, Australia. He also leads the Physical Activity and Exercise theme in the Charles Perkins Centre, a 900 person Institute at Sydney University. He has a special focus on physical activity and public health. He co-directs the WHO Collaborating Centre on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity. He is well-published in the scientific literature (and was named in the 2015 Thompson Reuter list of the most cited researchers). He works extensively in public health research translation and scaling up research, as well as in the areas of complex program evaluation and systems approaches to prevention.
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Seminar – 17 November 2016 – Dr Clare Llewellyn
2016-11-17 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | MRC Epidemiology meeting rooms 1&2, Level 3 IMS, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Greedy genes: the role of appetite in genetic susceptibility to obesity

Dr Clare Llewellyn, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, MRC Epidemiology Unit, Level 3, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
There is considerable variation in early weight gain, despite the ubiquity of the ‘obesogenic’ food environment; some children gain excessive weight, while others do not. Genetic susceptibility to the environment is thought to explain some of the variation in early weight gain, with differences in appetite being implicated as the mediating mechanism, so-called ‘Behavioural Susceptibility Theory’ (BST). BST hypothesises that children who inherit a more avid appetite, and lower sensitivity to satiety, are more likely to overeat in response to the modern food environment and to gain excessive weight. This talk summarises the role of appetite in early weight gain and eating behaviour, using data from Gemini – the largest twin birth cohort ever set up to study genetic and environmental influences on early growth.
About Dr Llewellyn
Dr Clare Llewellyn is a Lecturer in Behavioural Obesity Research at UCL’s Health Behaviour Research Centre, and leads the Obesity Research Group. She is also an honorary Research Fellow at Liverpool University. After an initial career in the pharmaceutical industry, Clare retrained as a Psychologist, undertaking an MSc and PhD at UCL, and post-doctoral training at UCL and King’s College London. Her research interest is understanding how genes and the environment interact to promote excessive weight gain in early life, with a focus on eating behaviour. In 2007, with Professor Jane Wardle she helped establish Gemini, the largest population-based birth cohort of twins ever set up to study genetic and environmental contributions to early life growth. Clare currently leads the Gemini study. She is also a Trustee for the UK Association for the Study of Obesity, and recently established their first London Regional Group.
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Seminar – Modelling cardiovascular and metabolic disease using transgenic zebrafish – Dr Marcel den Hoed
2016-12-14 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Modelling cardiovascular and metabolic disease using transgenic zebrafish

Dr Marcel den Hoed, Department of Medical Sciences, Molecular Epidemiology and SciLifeLab, Uppsala University.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies identified hundreds of loci that are associated with cardiometabolic diseases and risk factors. For most loci the causal genes remain unknown. My group developed experimental pipelines that facilitate image-based genetic screens in zebrafish larvae by using: 1) the zebrafish’ well-annotated genome; 2) CRISPR-Cas9 based mutagenesis; 3) fluorescent transgenes and dyes; 4) automated positioning and imaging technologies; 5) custom-written image quantification pipelines. Results from dietary, drug and genetic screens confirm that zebrafish larvae represent an opportunity to identify causal genes for cardiometabolic diseases and risk factors, and increase our understanding of disease aetiology.
About Dr den Hoed
Marcel den Hoed completed his PhD on genetic and physiological aspects of physical activity and food intake regulation at Maastricht University (Netherlands) in 2009. He was then awarded a three-year Career Development Fellowship at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, where he initiated and coordinated genome-wide association studies for heart rate and physical activity, supervised by Ruth Loos. In 2012 he started a second post-doc at the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), before initiating his own group at Uppsala University (Sweden) in 2013. His current research aims to translate GWAS findings into clinically relevant results using high-throughput genes in live transgenic zebrafish model systems.
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Seminar – A life-course investigation of influences on physical inactivity stability and change: findings from the 1958 British Birth Cohort - Dr Snehal Pinto Pereira
2017-02-22 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
A life-course investigation of influences on physical inactivity stability and change: findings from the 1958 British Birth Cohort
Dr Snehal Pinto Pereira, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
The seminar will focus on findings about influences on physical inactivity patterns in mid-adulthood using data from the 1958 British Birth Cohort. In this cohort, leisure time activity frequency was measured with the same questions at 33y, 42y and 50y. The talk will describe the stability and change in inactivity in mid-adulthood and then examine life-course influences on these inactivity patterns. Influences considered will be from early life and adulthood. The work highlights the importance of assessing activity within individuals as they age and allows for identification of vulnerable groups for whom action is needed to avoid future leisure-time inactivity.
About Dr Snehal Pinto Pereira
Dr Snehal Pinto Pereira is a Research Associate at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. Her research interests include how events over a lifetime affect an individual’s risk of health and disease in mid-adulthood. She has a particular interest in physical activity research in a life-course context, including both the determinants and consequences of physical activity and sedentary behaviour.
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Seminar - Food marketing regulation and childhood obesity prevention - Professor Amandine Garde
2017-03-22 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | MRC Epidemiology meeting rooms 1&2, Level 3 IMS, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Food marketing regulation and childhood obesity prevention

Professor Amandine Garde, Law & Non-Communicable Diseases, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool.

MRC Epidemiology Unit Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 3, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
Over the last twenty years, a range of studies have established that food marketing affects children’s consumption preferences and purchase requests. However, in stark contrast with what has happened for tobacco products, public authorities in the UK, in Europe and beyond have been extremely reluctant to restrict the marketing of food high in fat, sugar and salt, preferring to rely instead on the self-regulatory commitments or ‘pledges’ of food industry operators. This reluctance to impose legally binding restrictions on food marketing, particularly to children, raises a range of questions which this talk proposes to focus on.
About Professor Amandine Garde
Amandine Garde is Professor of Law and founding director of the new Law & NCD Research Unit at the University of Liverpool. Her expertise lies in the role that legal instruments can play in preventing obesity and other non-communicable diseases. She regularly advises international organisations, NGOs and governments worldwide, and was a member of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Science and Evidence to the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity.
Before moving to Liverpool in 2013, she lectured at King’s College London (where she obtained her PhD), at the Faculty of Law in Cambridge (where she was also a Fellow of Selwyn College), at the University of Exeter and at Durham University. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute in Florence in 2005-2006 and is also a qualified solicitor.
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Seminar - Effects of Macronutrient Distribution on Weight Change and Related Cardiometabolic Profiles in Healthy Non-Obese Chinese: A Randomized, Clinical Trial
2017-03-31 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:
Effects of Macronutrient Distribution on Weight Change and Related Cardiometabolic Profiles in Healthy Non-Obese Chinese: A Randomized, Clinical Trial
Professor Duo Li, Professor of Nutrition, Department of Food Science & Nutrition, Zhejiang University, China

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
This 6 month randomized controlled-feeding trial was conducted to determine whether the traditional low fat, high carbohydrate diet is more effective than the higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet at preventing obesity among a non-obese healthy population in China. The trial included 307 young adults aged 18-35 years with a body mass index of less than 28. It showed that the low fat, high carbohydrate diet reduced body weight to a greater extent than a higher fat, lower carbohydrate intake.
About Professor Duo Li
Dr Duo Li is a Professor of nutrition in the Department of Food Science & Nutrition, Zhejiang University, China. He was a research fellow at Deakin University, and a senior research fellow at RMIT University, Melbourne. He is an Editor-in-Chief of the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, associate editor of the Journal of Nutrigenetics & Nutrigenomics, associate editor of the Food & Function, and has also served on numerous editorial boards. He is an expert consultant of FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Human Nutrition, and WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Nutrition. He is a president of Asia Pacific Clinical Nutrition Society. One of his main research interests is to explore the role of dietary fat/fatty acids on human health.
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Seminar - Risk scores, risk communication and public health
2017-05-25 17:30 - 19:00 UTC | Harrods Room, Eammanuel College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3AP, United Kingdom
All are invited to the Statistics Meets Public Health Seminar:
Risk scores, risk communication and public health
Professor Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit.
Harrods Room, Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

This talk by Professor Simon Griffin will continue the new and unique seminar series on statistics and public health aimed for all audiences. Drinks, nibbles and networking will follow the seminar.
Free registration at: https://prof-simon-griffin.eventbrite.co.uk
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Seminar - Evidence and policy in public health: reflections from Public Health England
2017-06-21 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar by:

Dr Felix Greaves, Deputy Director, Science and Strategic Information, Public Health England.
Evidence and policy in public health: reflections from Public Health England
Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
About Dr Felix Greaves

Felix is Deputy Director, Science and Strategic Information at Public Health England and an honorary clinical senior lecturer in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College.
He was previously clinical adviser to the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, where he worked on developing national quality and safety policy. He also worked for the World Health Organization’s Patient Safety Programme, where he managed their project on improving patient safety education in medical schools and technology for patient safety.
Felix trained at Oxford University (BA, BM BCh), Harvard University (MPH) and Imperial College (MBA, PhD). He was awarded a Knox Fellowship by Harvard University, the Sir John Brotherston Prize by the Faculty of Public Health in the UK, an Academic Clinical Fellowship by the NIHR, and a Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy and Practice by the Commonwealth Fund.
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Seminar - Early Life Undernutrition Alters Cardiac Muscle Development Resulting in Reduced Physical Activity Engagement and Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease.
2017-08-02 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar by:
David P. Ferguson PhD, RCEP, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Michigan State University.
Early Life Undernutrition Alters Cardiac Muscle Development Resulting in Reduced Physical Activity Engagement and Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease.
Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abtract
Adults who were born with low birth weight are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease in adulthood. However, little is known about the contribution of cardiac mechanisms to this increased disease risk. Using a mouse model we evaluated cardiovascular function at the whole animal, organ, and cell level to determine the effect of a short episode of nutritionally-induced growth retardation on adult functional capacity following nutritional rehabilitation. Interestingly, mice that were undernourished development presented with reduced physical activity level engagement, impaired exercise capacity, and impairment in contraction mechanics of the heart. This phenotype is hypothesized to be due to alterations in the calcium kinetics of the contracting cardiomyocytes.
About Dr David P. Ferguson

David P. Ferguson has two distinct research interests. The first is how early life nutrition influences cardiovascular development as it relates to functional capacity in adulthood. It has been shown that children who are malnourished at birth have a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. The goal of his laboratory is to investigate the mechanistic changes that occur due to poor diet and propose therapeutic countermeasures to increase cardiovascular function and decrease mortality rates. The second area of research focuses on the physiological stress placed on automotive race car drivers and pit crews. He is working with NASCAR, Indycar, and Formula 1 teams to increase performance and safety of drivers and crew members.
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Seminar - Global trade in food and agriculture and the risk of non-communicable diseases in low and middle income countries
2017-10-18 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Meeting rooms, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (ATC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0SL, United Kingdom
All are invited to the CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar:

Dr Anne Marie Thow, Senior Lecturer in Health Policy, University of Sydney.

Global trade in food and agriculture and the risk of non-communicable diseases in low and middle income countries

Meeting Rooms 1&2, Level 4, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Abstract
Trade and investment liberalization has had far-reaching implications for food systems and nutrition. This seminar will examine the pathways through which trade impacts on nutrition, with a particular focus on low and middle income countries, and explore opportunities to improve policy coherence in an era in which public health policy space is increasingly constrained by international trade and investment agreements.
About Dr Thow

Dr Anne Marie Thow is Senior Lecturer in Health Policy at the University of Sydney. Her research uses theories of public policy making to explore facilitators and barriers to best practice public health nutrition policy globally, with a particular focus on the interface between economic policy and nutrition. Anne Marie currently collaborates on research in Asia, Africa and the Pacific, and regularly consults with international agencies regarding nutrition policy. Prior to her PhD, Anne Marie worked for the Governments of Australia and Fiji on nutrition policy issues. She trained in nutrition and has a Masters in Public Policy.
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