Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care Section
Head of Section: Prof Masao Takata
Academic Staff: Prof Andrew Rice, Dr Carsten Bantel, Dr Robert Dickinson, Dr Anthony Gordon, Dr Daqing Ma, Dr Nandor Marczin, Dr Istvan Nagy, Dr Stefan Trapp & Dr Michael Wilson
The Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine, and Intensive Care (APMIC) Section brings together academics interested in main topics of perioperative care: anaesthesia, analgesia and other aspects of critical care relating primarily to the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems. APMIC is also closely associated with the Magill Department that delivers the clinical services in anaesthesia, intensive care & pain management at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
The research undertaken within the Section is motivated by the clinical need to deliver best service in perioperative medicine and pain management. Our interests range from ventilator-induced lung injury via the molecular basis of anaesthetic actions to the long-term management of neuropathic and chronic pain. Studies are driven by the desire to understand the molecular basis of these processes, how organprotection can be achieved in the clinical setting, and how metabolic disease (e.g. diabetes) interacts with brain function. The individual research groups strongly interact and have also close links with the Cell Biology Section in the Department of Medicine and the Biophysics Section in the Division of Cell & Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, where a number of groups share our interest in the regulation of cell excitabilty by anaesthetics, metabolism and other factors.
For further more detailed information about the research interests of the individual research groups please use the links to the individual academics within the panel on the right.
The Section works with the other Sections in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, with various sections within the National Heart & Lung Institute and with groups at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, as well as Departments within the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial, such as Life Sciences and Chemistry. To bring the research from bench to bedside, members of the Section work closely with the Academic Health Science Center (AHSC), local NHS Trusts and Health Authorities, along with other universities.
The Section is host to one of the participating laboratories forming the London Pain Consortium, of which Professor Andrew Rice is Administrative Director. The London Pain Consortium is also one of the partners in the European Union Innovative Medicines Initiative collaboration “Europain”.
The Section contributes to both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Most members of the department are involved in teaching the highly successful BSc course Surgery and Anaesthesia, of which Dr Michael Wilson is a Director. Our laboratories regularly attract students from this BSc course for exciting experimental projects, a number of whom have subsequently taken up studies for a PhD within the Section We can also accommodate PhD students who are funded via the MRC DTA and enquiries from prospective students are always welcome.
The Section provides a comprehensive training portfolio for clinicians to gain academic research experience alongside their clinical training. We normally host 2-5 academic F2s per year. Additionally, we are one of the few academic anaesthesia departments nationwide that offer a NIHR clinical academic training programme with Academic Clinical Fellowships and Academic Clinical Lectureships. The director for this programme is Dr Nandor Marczin.
Finally, the Section is home to the Chelsea & Westminster Healthcare Simulation Center, a state of the art teaching aid that can simulate a wide variety of clinical situations allowing the ultimate in experiential learning.
