21st April 2005
NEWBURY RACECOURSE CONFERENCE CENTRE

Detailed directions to Newbury Racecourse can be found at: 
www.newbury-racecourse.co.uk/location.htm

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Professor Raymond C Tallis

BM BCh MA FRCP LittD (Hon Causa) DLitt (Hon Causa) F Med Sci

Raymond Tallis trained as a doctor at Oxford University and St. Thomas's Hospital qualifying in 1970. Since 1987 he has been Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester and a consultant physician in Health Care of the Elderly in Salford. Until recently he had responsibility for acute and rehabilitation patients and took part in the on call rota for acute medical emergencies. Since February 2003 his local clinical activities have been confined to running a specialist epilepsy service for older people, for overseeing the Critical Incident Group and helping deliver on the National Service Framework for Older People.

Between 1997 and 2001, he combined his clinical and academic responsibilities with the role of Project Director of Neurosciences, overseeing the development of a single Neurosciences Centre and an Integrated Neurosciences service for the 3 million population of Greater Manchester, with unification of neurosurgical services, rationalisation of neurology services and the development of a template for the neurological rehabilitation services. He had a key role in making the case for and raising the funds for the Humphrey Booth Building, which includes a unique Clinical Research Centre for Neurosciences and Ageing and opened in June 2001. 

In 1996 he established the Stroke Association’s Therapy Research Unit at Hope Hospital.

His national roles have included: Consultant Advisor in Health Care of the Elderly to the Chief Medical Officer; a key part in developing National Service Framework for Older People; membership of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence Appraisal Committee; and Chairmanship of the Royal College of Physicians Committee on Ethics in Medicine.

Amongst his 200 or so medical publications are two major textbooks: The Clinical Neurology of Old Age (Wiley, 1988) and the comprehensive Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology (Harcourt Brace, co-edited with Howard Fillitt, now entering its 6th edition, 2003). Most of his research publications are in the field of neurology of old age and neurological rehabilitation. Recent original articles have been published in Nature Medicine, Lancet and other leading journals. Two of his recent papers have been the subject of commentaries in the Lancet: New classification of higher level gait disorders in patients with cerebral multi-infarct states, Age and Ageing 2003; 32:252-258; and Late onset seizures as a predictor of subsequent stroke, The Lancet 2004; 363: 1184-1186. He established and was Editor in Chief of Reviews in Clinical Gerontology (Cambridge University Press) 1989-1998.

In 2000 he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his contribution to medical research. He has had many visiting professorships. In 2003 he was the Ernest Finch Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield and the Nimmo Visiting Professor in the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia.

In 2002 he was awarded the Dhole Eddlestone Prize for his contribution to the medical literature on elderly people.

Over the last 15 years, he has published fiction, several volumes of poetry, and over a dozen books on the philosophy of mind, philosophical anthropology, literary theory, the nature of art and cultural criticism. Together these books offer a critique of current predominant intellectual trends and an alternative understanding of human consciousness, the nature of language and of what it is to be a human being. For this work, he has been awarded two honorary degrees: DLItt (Hon Causa) from the University of Hull in 1997; and LittD (Hon Causa) at the University of Manchester 2002.

Among his 100 or so non-medical article are many contributions to the Times Literary Supplement, London Review of Books, PN Review, Prospect, Philosophical Investigations and Monist. 

Recent non medical books include: Not Saussure: a Critique of post-Saussurean literary theory. (Reissued with a new preface. 2nd Edition Macmillan 1995); Newton’s Sleep: Two Cultures and Two Kingdoms (Macmillan: London, 1995); In Defence of Realism. (Reissued with a new preface. 2nd Edition University of Nebraska Press 1998); The Explicit Animal: A Defence of Human Consciousness. (Reissued with a new preface. 2nd Edition Macmillan1999); Enemies of Hope: a Critique of Contemporary Pessimism. (Reissued with a new preface. Macmillan 1999); Theorhoea and After. (Macmillan 1999); On the Edge of Certainty and other essays in philosophy. (London Macmillan 1999); The Raymond Tallis Reader edited by Michael Grant. (Palgrave 2000); A conversation with Martin Heidegger. (Palgrave 2002). The Hand: A philosophical inquiry into human being Volume One of Handkind. (Edinburgh University Press, Spring 2003), Hippocratic Oaths: Medicine and its Discontents. (Grove Atlantic Press, 2004).

Forthcoming books: I Am:A philosophical inquiry into first person being. Volume Two of Handkind. (Edinburgh University Press, Summer 2004); The Knowing Animal: A philosophical inquiry into knowledge and truth. Volume Three of Handkind. (Edinburgh University Press, January 2005).

Professor Paul Matthews

MA MD DPhil FRCPC FRCP

Paul Matthews is MRC (Medical Research Council) Clinical Research Professor and Professor of Clinical Neurology in the University of Oxford, where he acts as Director of the Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain.
Paul Matthews’ first degree in Chemistry was from St Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford, where he continued to obtain a DPhil in Biochemistry. 

He subsequently obtained preclinical medical training at the University of Oxford and Stanford University USA, where he was an intern in internal medicine, and received specialty training in Neurology at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, Canada. He has been in his current post since 1995. Further details of Prof. Matthews’ research can be obtained from: http://ww.seh.ox.ac.uk/index.cfm?do=viewStaff&personID=41

Recently Prof Matthews has collaborated with Shakespeare scholar Jeffrey McQuain to write The Bard on the Brain, Understanding the Mind through the Art of Shakespeare and the Science of Brain Imaging, published by Dana Press http://www.dana.org/books/press/danabook/bard. In the book, he uses the latest brain-imaging techniques to illustrate the thought processes and corresponding brain patterns of the Bard’s greatest characters: Macbeth clutching at a vision of a dagger, ‘a false creation of the heat-oppressed brain’, that would have sent the parts of his brain that respond to movement into lathers of electronic activity; or the elevated blood flow in areas of the brain of Richard II, typical of individuals suffering from depression. ‘When you look at the brain in this way, you get a new awareness – the insights of modern science combined with the understanding of our emotions that Shakespeare’s writing provides.’

Dr Steven Ray

BSc PhD

Steven Ray is a young researcher working at Oxford Brookes University. He is carrying out research on the potential use of bone marrow stem cells for treating motor neurone disease.

Professor Kevin Warwick

BSc PhD DSc DrSc Chartered Engineer Fellow IEE Fellow CGI

Kevin Warwick is Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, England, where he carries out research in artificial intelligence, control, robotics and cyborgs. He is also Director of the University KTP Centre, which links the University with Small to Medium Enterprises and raises over £2 million each year in research income.

Kevin Warwick was born in Coventry, UK and left school to join British Telecom, at the age of 16. At 22 he took his first degree at Aston University, followed by a PhD and research post at Imperial College, London. He subsequently held positions at Oxford, Newcastle and Warwick Universities before being offered the Chair at Reading, at the age of 32.

As well as publishing over 400 research papers, Kevin Warwick’s recent experiments into implant technology led to him being featured as the cover story on the US magazine, ‘Wired’. He has also appeared on several occasions in Time magazine, Newsweek, Discover and New Scientist. 

Kevin Warwick has been awarded higher doctorates both by Imperial College and the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. He was presented with The Future of Health Technology Award in MIT, was made an Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg and in 2004 received The IEE Achievement Medal. In 2000 Kevin presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, entitled “The Rise of the Robots”.

Further details and information can be obtained from: http://www.kevinwarwick.com/ and http://www.rdg.ac.uk/KevinWarwick

Professor Iain Swain

BSc PhD CEng FIEE FIPEM CCE

Iain Swain obtained a B.Sc (Hons) Electronic Engineering in 1976 and Ph.D, in 1982 entitled “Adaptive Control of an Arm Prosthesis”. This marked his involvement with the medical profession and he was employed as a Research Fellow in Neurological Rehabilitation at Southampton before moving to Odstock in 1982. His principal areas of interest are in rehabilitation engineering, particularly Functional Electrical Stimulation. He is employed as a Consultant Biomedical Engineer in Salisbury Hospital and Professor of Clinical Engineering at Bournemouth University. He has 7 patents and written over 80 papers on Biomedical Engineering, many on FES. 

Iain Swain says “We have developed an extensive clinical FES service in Salisbury over the past twelve years and have seen well over 2000 patients using surface stimulation systems, and as far as I am aware, undertook the first RCT to show the clinical efficacy of an FES orthosis, the Odstock Drop Foot Stimulator (ODFS) which is now being used in the NHS and which we are able to CE mark. We have also implanted 16 FreeHand systems, 2 LARSI implants and are now working with Enschede to undertake a clinical trial of an implanted foot drop stimulator. We have also developed an extensive training programme and have trained over 700 clinical staff from the UK and Europe in the use of the ODFS. I consider it essential that FES systems should move outside the laboratory and into clinical practice and strongly feel that IFESS has a role to play in this process so that FES techniques can improve function and quality of life for people with neurological disabilities.

Susan Edwards

FCSP

Susan Edwards is a practicing physiotherapist working with adults and children with neurological disabilities at the Bobath Centre, London. She is also a Clinical Specialist working at the Spinal Injuries Unit, Stoke Mandeville Hospital and an Honorary Lecturer at University College London. She has provided expert witness in medico-legal cases of adults and children with neurological disability and is known by many for her teaching, both nationally and internationally.

Susan Edwards is also the author of Neurological Physiotherapy: A Problem-solving Approach (Churchill Livingstone). The first edition was published in 1996 and the second in 2002. She has also contributed chapters to several other neurological texts. 

Susan Edwards has been involved in research evaluating physiotherapy for stroke patients in association with Dr Cecily Partridge at Kings College and the University of Kent at Canterbury

She was awarded a Fellowship of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in 1995 and was President of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists with an Interest in Neurology (ACPIN) from 1998 to 2002.

Dr Mike Gillespie

BHK MSc PhD

Mike Gillespie is currently a senior lecturer in the School of Health & Bioscience at the University of East London. 

He is a native of Canada and received the degree Bachelor of Human Kinetics at the University of Windsor, an MSc with emphasis in Special Physical Education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a PhD from Ohio State University, where he specialised in Adapted Physical Activity.

Mike Gillespie has developed and implemented programmes for individuals with disabilities across a wide variety of sport, physical activity and recreational settings. He has served as a faculty member at universities in Canada and the United States and Morocco and the United Kingdom.

Dr Keith Andrews

Dr Keith Andrews is Director of Institute of Complex Neuro-disability at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, London.

He was a member of the Research and Evidence Group for the National Service Framework on Long Term Conditions.

Keith Andrews has published a major report on ‘Rehabilitation in the 21st Century’ based on three surveys of rehabilitation practice in the NHS and Independent sectors.

He is a member of several international working parties (chairman of two) on profound brain damage and was formerly Editor in Chief of ‘Clinical Rehabilitation’.

Professor John Young

John Young is Professor of Health Care of Elderly People, SISA, University of Sheffield, and Consultant Physician, Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, West Yorkshire. His research interests focus on stroke rehabilitation and intermediate care services for which he has received major grants from the Stroke Association, the NHS R&D Programme, PPP Health Care Trust and the Department of Health. He is currently involved in evaluations of two intermediate care schemes in West Yorkshire, leading a collaborative multi-centre community hospital trial, developing a primary care based model for stroke and two stroke unit trials. He has published over 100 scientific articles including major papers on stroke rehabilitation in the British Medical Journal and The Lancet.

Further details about John Young can be obtained at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sisa/Staff_Young.shtml

Professor Derick Wade

MA MB BChir FRCP MD

Derick Wade is professor of Rehabilitation at the Oxford Centre of Enablement (formerly Rivermead Rehabilitation Centre) where he is a recognised authority on Rehabilitation. His special interests include: The management of patients with multiple sclerosis, head injury and stroke, the assessment of patients in PVS; the management of patients with severe complex problems arising from neurological disease; measurement of impairment, disability and quality of life; randomised controlled trials; goal planning; psychologically based illness and disability.