Reports

Report of the General Board on the establishment or re-establishment of two Professorships in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences

The General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The University has a long tradition of achievement in neuroscience across a range of subject areas. In recent years research in acute brain injury and imaging of the central nervous system has been highly productive and internationally competitive, raising the profile of the University in clinical neuroscience and contributing to strong performances in the two most recent Research Assessment Exercises.

2. A single tenure Professorship of Neurosurgery was established by Grace 3 of 28 February 1990. The Professorship will lapse with the retirement of Professor J. D. Pickard on 30 September 2013, and the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine have proposed that it should be re‑established for a further tenure. Neurosurgery and related disciplines are an important part of the teaching curriculum in clinical medicine and in providing opportunities for graduate education. With a diminishing academic base in neurosurgery and other craft-specialities in UK universities, the continued commitment of Cambridge to academic neurosurgery is of national strategic importance. The Professorship is currently funded by the NHS Clinical Academic Reserve. A bid will be made for renewed NHS funding; in the event that this is unsuccessful, the full cost of the Professorship will be met by the School of Clinical Medicine from its own resources. Cambridge University Hospitals would award an Honorary Consultant contract to the Professor and provide full access to appropriate clinical facilities; appropriate research facilities will be provided within the School through its Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

3. The General Board have accepted the Faculty Board’s proposal and have agreed that election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature should be open without limitation or preference to all persons whose work falls within the field of clinical neurosurgery.

4. Injury of the brain is the commonest cause of death and morbidity in young people, and advances in neurological rehabilitation are needed to understand factors that determine long-term deficits and to improve the care and treatment of chronic disability resulting from brain injury. The necessary NHS and community infrastructure is now in place to allow this emerging academic discipline to prosper and the East of England Major Trauma Network and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust have agreed to support a single tenure Professorship of Neurorehabilitation to take advantage of the research opportunities and to provide leadership in translational and clinical research and teaching. The Faculty Board have undertaken to provide support and facilities for the Professor from within existing resources. It is anticipated that the Professor will be qualified in medicine and have an existing specialty interest in the neurorehabilitation of brain injured patients.

5. The General Board have accepted the Faculty Board’s proposal and have agreed that election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature should be open to all persons whose work falls within the field described in paragraph 4.

6. The General Board recommend:

I. That the Professorship of Neurosurgery be re-established from 1 October 2013 for one tenure, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

II. That a Professorship of Neurorehabilitation be established from 1 October 2013 for one tenure, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

6 February 2013	L. K. Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor	Martin Daunton	Robert Kennicutt
	Philip Allmendinger	Simon Franklin	Patrick Maxwell
	N. Bampos	C. A. Gilligan	Rachael Padman
	H. A. Chase	David Good	John Rallison
	Sarah Coakley	Sadie Jarrett