Group Leader

Jelena received her PhD from the Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge, and subsequently gained postdoctoral experience in Paris and London. She has expertise in the role of inflammation in cell interactions with the extracellular matrix that underlie normal and pathological conditions in a variety of tissues including skin. She is currently a senior lecturer in the UEA School of Biological Sciences.

Damon received his PhD from the University of London in collaboration with the Novartis Research Institute, Vienna, on the role of cytokines in ultraviolet light-induced chronic and acute inflammation in skin. He has continually worked on the development and use of skin models to understand normal and pathological skin structure and function that have led to NSP’s creation.

Ketan Dhatariya qualified from the University of London in 1991 and did his diabetes and endocrinology training in and around London. For 2 years during his training he was also a part time General Practitioner in the evenings. He took some time out of his training to spend a year doing intensive care medicine and anaesthetics. After he finished his diabetes training in 2001 he went to do research in endocrinology at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, USA. He was appointed as a consultant in diabetes, endocrinology and general medicine at the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital in 2004, and Honorary Professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia in 2019. He is a full time clinician and his predominant areas of interest are inpatient diabetes and the ‘diabetic foot’. He leads one of the largest foot clinics in the East of England.

Marc is a British-trained plastic surgeon specialising in all aspects of skin cancer surgery and reconstruction. He provides a specialist service for the diagnosis, removal and reconstruction of soft tissue tumours deep to the skin, both benign and malignant. Marc also has a major specialist interest in head and neck reconstruction and provides a specialist service in the surgical management of facial paralysis.

Description goes hereJeremy is a Consultant Physician at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital specialising in diabetes and endocrinology with a strong research interest in the role of inflammatory signalling in adipose tissue in linking obesity to insulin signalling and cardiovascular disease. He graduated from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1993 and is currently the Clinical Diretor of Diabetes and Endocrinology and Clinical Director of the NIHR Clinical Research Network (Eastern). In addition to these roles he is also an honourary chair at the Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia.

Jonathan is the Head of Business Development at the John Innes Centre on the Norwich Research Park.

Cathie is a group leader at the John Innes Centre and Professor at the University of East Anglia. Her interests span from fundamental to applied plant science. She researches into the relationship between diet and health and how crops can be fortified to improve diets and address the global challenge of escalating chronic disease. This work has involved linking leading clinical and epidemiological researchers with plant breeders and metabolic engineers to develop scientific understanding of how diet can help to maintain health, promote healthy ageing and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

Cathie is also involved in genetic screens to identify crops which lack toxins that cause nutritional diseases, and has recently initiated a collaborative project with China to research on Chinese Medicinal Plants.