CBE for Great Ormond Street professor

CBE for Great Ormond Street professor

7 January 2015

A FORMER Newcastle woman has been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours. Professor Rosalind Smyth, Professor of Child Health, Director of the UCL Institute of Child Health and Honorary Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician at Great Ormond Street Hospital, was recognised for her services to drug regulation for children.

Following the award, Professor Smyth said she was pleased to have played a “small part” in the huge progress made in the development of safe new medicines for children over the past decade.

“This has been due to the commitment of regulators, clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry,” she said. “It has been a great privilege for me to have played a small part in this.

“My thanks also to my wonderful colleagues at the UCL Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital.”

Professor Smyth took up post as Director of the University College London Institute of Child Health in October 2012.

One of the UK’s foremost paediatric researchers, she previously worked as a Professor of Paediatric Medicine at the University of Liverpool and acted as Director of the National Institute for Health Research Medicines for Children Research Network, a £20m initiative set up to improve and develop medicines specifically for use in children.

Her expertise is cystic fibrosis and respiratory infections.

She is also Honorary Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Non-Executive Director of Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Smyth spends around half her time teaching and the other half on the wards.

Explaining more about her work with drug regulation for children, she said: “In 2007, a new European regulation, which became law in all EU member states, completely transformed the regulatory landscape for the development and testing of new drugs for children in Europe.

“It required pharmaceutical companies who were developing a drug, which might be of benefit to children, to conduct clinical studies with children, of all relevant ages.

“This meant that the licensing authorities would have robust information about whether the drug was safe and effective when used in children and has led to many more drugs becoming licensed for use in children.

“This now means that doctors prescribing drugs for children have much better information available on which to base their decisions.

“The UK played a prominent role in the development and implementation of this regulation and the committee, which I chaired, provided expert advice to the UK regulatory agency. I also led the development of a clinical research network, in England, with similar networks in the three devolved administrations, known as the NIHR Medicines for Children Research Network and I was its Director from 2005-2012. 

“This network provided support for clinicians in the NHS to conduct clinical trials in children, which assessed the safety and effectiveness of medicines.”

The former Down High School student maintains close links to home and recently travelled to Downpatrick to address the Old Dunumians Association.