Prestigious Hunterian Professorship award for Mr Drury
Academic Consultant in Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, Mr Nigel Drury, has been awarded the Hunterian Professorship for his work on myocardial protection during heart surgery in children.
The Hunterian Professorships are among the most prestigious within the field of surgery and are awarded annually by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Mr Drury, who has worked at our Children’s Hospital for four years, is the Chief Investigator of the UK’s only two multi-centre clinical trials in children’s heart surgery, both funded by the British Heart Foundation. The Bilateral Remote Ischaemic Conditioning in Children (BRICC) trial and the del Nido v St Thomas’ blood cardioplegia in the young (DESTINY) trial look at how we can improve protection of the heart against injury when it is stopped during surgery so that repairs can be made to defects inside the heart.
He is due to deliver his Hunterian Lecture entitled ‘Myocardial protection in paediatric cardiac surgery: building an evidence-based strategy’ at the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery annual national meeting in spring 2022.
Mr Drury said: “I am delighted to be given this award in recognition of our ongoing work to make children’s heart surgery safer, both in Birmingham and around the world. Clinical trials are vital to answer important questions and improve the outcomes of surgery for our patients and their families. By working together with colleagues across the UK, we can continue to reduce the impact of needing to stop the heart during surgery.”
Clinical Director NIHR Clinical Research Network (West Midlands) and Research and Innovation Director Birmingham Children's Hospital, Professor Jeremy Kirk said:
"Many congratulations to Nigel for him being awarded a highly prestigious chair from the Royal College of Surgeons. This rewards his ground-breaking research in children's heart disease, especially those undergoing surgery."