Sir
John Vane founded the William Harvey Research Institute
at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in 1986.
The institute was named after William
Harvey because his discovery of the circulation was achieved
while working at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Initial financial support was from Glaxo. Sir David Jack,
former Head of Research at Glaxo, was the first Chairman of
Trustees (1995-2000) of the William Harvey Research Foundation.
Subsequently, pharmaceutical companies from Europe (Astra,
Lipha, Servier), USA (Parke-Davis, United Therapeutics) and
Japan (Ono) have funded major research programmes.
Sir John Vane and his fellow research directors (Professors
Erik Änggård, Gustav Born, Rod Flower, Iain MacIntyre,
David Tomlinson and Derek Willoughby), together with a team
of enthusiastic young scientists and PhD students, rapidly
established the William Harvey Research Institute as a centre
of excellence for research into the mechanisms of vascular
disease and inflammation.
The William Harvey Research Institute is World-renowned for
being in the forefront of its field. Sir John Vane was one
of the most highly cited scientists of his day. Professors
Chris Thiemermann and Tim Warner, who were PhD students in
the early days of the William Harvey Research Institute, have
continued this tradition as they are now both in the top one
hundred most highly cited pharmacologists worldwide. This
shows that their work at the William Harvey Research Institute
has been at the cutting edge of their fields.
In 2000 the William
Harvey Research Institute became fully integrated into
Barts and the London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine
and Dentistry. It now has more than 200 researchers and is
one of the leading centres in the United Kingdom for research
into vascular and heart disease, inflammatory conditions and
endocrine disorders.
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