The group lead for Lung Health at MLW Dr. Jamie Rylance was recently promoted to Deputy Head of Clinical Sciences at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). The details of his appointment are below:
Date of appointment: 1st August 2019
Role: Deputising for the Head at LSTM (Daniela Ferreira), and specifically trying to make the Department of Clinical Sciences more relevant to LSTM employees not based in the UK (including Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Nepal and elsewhere).
Many people in MLW are part of DoCS, but don’t really understand what that means – it is irrelevant to most of their work and could be seen as an unwanted added layer of bureaucracy. I’d like to change that perception by improving the DoCS-MLW relationship in a number of areas:
1. Communication: DoCS is one of the departments which interfaces with senior management at LSTM through the “management committee”. The remit is very broad, and covers human resources, budgeting, new projects and strategy; policies which have a direct impact on LSTM’s partners. I’d like DoCS members to feel that they understand the senior decisions, and have an opportunity to have their opinions heard.
2. Staff development: The relationship between DoCS and MLW might frequently overlap. For those DoCS members, there are resources available to support travel and development where it is strategically useful. I would like MLW-based people to access these more frequently and effectively.
3. Institutional policies: There are so many policies relating to how we work, many which are particularly relevant to clinical research. For those funded through LSTM, there is an inherited responsibility to adhere to their policies, in addition to local MLW ones. But I couldn’t name them, and even if I knew what I was looking for, it would take me ages to find them. I’d like to ensure that we are not creating new policies through DoCS, but making the system more efficient for those who need to follow them, including ensuring that MLW-specific issues are brought to light in Liverpool during the development of anything new.
Congratulations, Dr. Rylance!
