An innovative brain and spinal injury health technology research centre has opened at Addenbrooke’s Hospital after winning £3m funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Heading the centre, which will collaborate with nearby hospitals including neighbouring Royal Papworth, are Corpus Fellow Dr Alexis Joannides and Professor Peter Hutchinson,  both academic neurosurgeons at Addenbrooke’s.

In the UK, someone with a brain injury enters hospital every 90 seconds - an increase of 10 percent since 2005 - and 1.3m people live with traumatic brain injury-related disabilities. The Cambridge HealthTech Research Centre brings together NHS partners, business, and patients from across the UK to develop technologies that improve care while patients are in hospital. 

"Our new Centre enables us to work effectively with inventors, academics, and clinicians within the UK and beyond to identify, evaluate, and implement meaningful solutions to improve the lives of people affected by brain injury," said Alexis.

Conditions affecting the brain and spine affect large numbers of people. These injuries often have a significant impact on their quality of life. The Centre aims to support solutions that improve the quality of life of those affected and make these technologies accessible across the NHS. Their strategy is to identify which solutions will address unmet needs in the care pathway, evaluate the effectiveness of the solutions with experts and communities, and implement those evaluated solutions into the care pathway. The focus will be on five themes: Prevention & Education, Acute Care & Monitoring, Restoration & Rehabilitation, Diagnostics, and Life Course.

Alexis emphasises the need to work with patients and communities as well as specialists. The Centre has 'public contributors', such as Addenbrooke's patient James Piercy from Norwich, who survived a brain injury. James says, "The thoughts and understanding of people with lived experience is vital for new developments to meet the real needs of people and ensure that research focuses on the questions that matter to patients and their carers."

About Alexis Joannides

Dr Alexis Joannides is an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at Addenbrookes specialising in neuro-oncology and CSF disorders. He is the Head of Bioinformatics for Cambridge University Hospitals Trust and Director of Clinical Medicine at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Through his research, he has supported the development of new devices and technologies for improving patients’ quality-of-life following brain injury. His brain care transformation work includes clinically leading programmes REVERT, RAPID, DAMSEL and IRMA.

You can read about Alexis' work with REVERT (Reversable Dementia) in the previous issue of The Pelican.