Dear Colleagues,

Firstly, thank you for the messages of support following the announcement from the Dean that I have been re-appointed as the Head of the School of Medical Sciences for another 5 year term.

As part of the re-appointment process I applied for, and was granted, a 4 month period of condensed leave from the 20 July through to 20 November to enable me to concentrate on submitting HRC Project and Programme grants and to strengthen my collaborations with colleagues in the US with whom I currently hold NIH research grants.

During this period of leave Professor Alistair Gunn has agreed to serve as Acting Head of School to allow our Deputy Head of School and Academic Director Professor Michelle Glass to concentrate on the looming re-structuring of the BSc and its implications for the School.

As Acting-HOS Alistair will assume the day to day responsibilities of running the School and will oversee the Promotion process that will occur during my period of leave.

Bruce Rattray as GSM will if course have responsibility of operational matters

While we are currently concentrating on the upcoming HRC rounds I think it is important to congratulate those groups that we successful in the last round which together were awarded above 17 million dollars in grant support. This is an incredible result for one School and one which we hope to build on in 2018.

Regards

Paul