UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health Inaugural Symposium

You are warmly welcomed to attend the inaugural symposium of Professors Giovanni Baranello and Pia Hardelid.

This is a hybrid event held in the Kennedy Lecture Theatre , UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health & online via Zoom.

Link to join via Zoom: will be received nearer the date following registration.

Programme:

3:00pm Professor Giovanni Baranello, Professor of Paediatric Neuromuscular Disorders

Title: ‘From drug repurposing to gene targeted therapies: enhancing translation in neuromuscular diseases’

4:00pm – 4:30pm Tea/coffee on the Balcony

4:30pm Professor Pia Hardelid, Professor of Epidemiology

Title: ‘Knowing me, knowing flu: big data for respiratory health research in children’

5.30pm Drinks reception in the Winter Garden

RSVP Reserve a place by registering via Eventbrite.

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Professor Giovanni Barnello

Professor of Paediatric Neuromuscular Disorders

Title:‘ From drug repurposing to gene targeted therapies: enhancing translation in neuromuscular diseases.’

Abstract

This lecture will provide an overview of my scientific and professional journey, from investigating neurological and neurodevelopmental correlates of premature birth to the phenotyping of motor and cerebral visual impairment in children with cerebral palsy; from genetic targeted first-in human studies to the exploitation of drug repurposing in rare neuromuscular conditions. This will be an occasion to share the excitements experienced when I saw the first patients with the severe spinal muscular atrophy type 1 recruited in our clinical trial to survive and to achieve unprecedented new milestones like sitting or standing. Additionally, I will reflect on pivotal moments and challenges encountered in both my professional and personal life.

Above all, this occasion serves as an opportunity to express gratitude and recognition to the remarkable individuals I've encountered in my professional journey, whose support and inspiration have fuelled my enthusiasm and motivation to persist in this meaningful path.

Biography

Giovanni Baranello is Professor of Paediatric Neuromuscular Disorders within the Developmental Neurosciences Teaching and Research Department, at the Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London. Here he holds a joint clinical and research position since 2019 and serves as honorary consultant in Neuromuscular Diseases at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he is involved in the diagnosis and clinical management of children with different neuromuscular conditions.

Giovanni has been involved as principal investigator in numerous neuromuscular clinical trials, predominantly in the areas of Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. His main area of research relates to translational research in neuromuscular conditions, development of outcome measures and biomarkers, natural history studies and long-term studies in patients receiving novel treatments. His research activity is also focused on developing treatments for rare congenital myopathies.

Giovanni completed his degree in Medicine, specialty in Child Neurology and Psychiatry, and PhD in Developmental Neurosciences from the Catholic University Medical School in Rome, Italy.

Professor Pia Hardelid

Professor of Epidemiology

Title:‘Knowing me, knowing flu: big data for respiratory health research in children’

Abstract

Pia will present her research using big, routinely collected administrative data from primary care, hospitals, pharmacies and registry offices to work out how we can improve children’s health. Much of her work has focused on how children can be better protected from severe symptoms of respiratory viruses, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2. Pia and her team and have used linked, administrative data to look at how we can protect babies from being admitted to hospital with influenza or RSV, uptake of and access to vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, and more recently, to what extent air pollution and poor housing contribute to severe respiratory infection symptoms in children.

Pia will talk about how she became an avid user and proponent of administrative data for research, how she has involved the children and parents in research projects using big data, and the data resources Pia and team are building to support researchers examining the impact of the climate crisis and other environmental threats on children’s health.

Biography

Pia has a BSc in Population Studies from London School in Economics and Political Science, an MSc in Demography and Health from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology from UCL Institute of Child Health. She worked as a statistician at the Health Protection Agency (now UK Health Security Agency) before returning to the Institute in 2011, where she took up her lectureship in 2017.

In the Chair: Professor Helen Cross, Director and Professor of Child Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

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RSVP Reserve a place by registering via Eventbrite.