WellChild Grant Holders

Diego Vergani is Professor of Liver Immunopathology in the Department of Liver Studies and Transplantation, King’s College London School of Medicine, Denmark Hill Campus. He is the Director of the Alex Mowat Immunopathology Laboratory, Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, London, and the Chairman of the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group, of which he directs also the Serology Subcommittee. Professor Vergani has made major contributions in the understanding of the mechanisms leading to autoimmune damage in the liver and endocrine pancreas, as well as in those leading to liver damage in chronic viral hepatitis B and C. His research has led to over 300 publications. The second edition of his textbook ‘Basic and Clinical Immunology’ will be published in 2008.

Giorgina Mieli-Vergani is Professor of Paediatric Hepatology, Academic Head of the Department of Liver Studies and Transplantation, and Vice Head of the Division of Gene and Cell Based Therapy, King’s College London School of Medicine, Denmark Hill Campus. She is the Director of the Supra Regional Paediatric Liver Centre at King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, London. In this centre, which is the largest referral unit for children with liver disease worldwide, novel medical and surgical managements are pioneered, including new modes of treatment of autoimmune and viral hepatitis, living-related liver transplantation, non heart beating donor liver transplantation, auxiliary liver transplantation and isolated hepatocyte transplantation. Her research interests include mechanisms of liver damage in autoimmune and viral disease, mechanisms involved in liver transplant rejection and tolerance, new treatments for children with chronic viral hepatitis. She has over 300 peer reviewed publications and has contributed to several textbooks.

Timothy Barrett is consultant paediatrician in endocrinology and diabetes at Birmingham Children's Hospital and Professor of Paediatrics at The University of Birmingham. He trained at The Royal London Hospital, Great Ormond Street, Exeter and Birmingham. He now spends half his time at Birmingham Children's Hospital looking after children with diabetes and other hormone problems; and half his time researching in the medical school, University of Birmingham. He is clinical lead for the Diabetes Service at the hospital, caring for 320 children with diabetes. He also looks after children with general hormone problems such as short stature, puberty problems and hormone complications as a result of other illnesses. His main areas of research interest are the inherited forms of childhood diabetes such as Wolfram syndrome, and obesity related diabetes in childhood. He has a research team based in the Institute of Biomedical Research, The Medical School, Birmingham, studying inherited forms of diabetes. He is also Program Director for the new Clinical Research Facility at Birmingham Children's Hospital; and is developing a national study of type 2 diabetes in children. He is married with two school age daughters.