Professor Chris Whitty stars in ARC EM national webinar

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands (ARC EM) leads a national event on multimorbidity research.

The Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty was the keynote speaker at a national online seminar on the challenge of multimorbidity and the role of research.

Examples of good practice and research in multiple long term conditions were shared by a number of NIHR ARCs and other professionals in this field at an NIHR ARC EM event.

More than 220 delegates joined the ‘Managing Multimorbidity: A Virtual Seminar’ on Tuesday, October 5. 

Professor Chris Whitty, who is also the Chief Medical Adviser to the UK government, delivered a keynote presentation on the challenge of multimorbidity and the role of research.

It was chaired by Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Director for NIHR ARC EM and National Lead for The Managing Multimorbidity Theme.

The event is now available to watch in full on the ARC EM YouTube channel here.

Professor Khunti said: “As the lead ARC on Multimorbidity we are proud to organise this event and I am grateful to all of the guest speakers, who have taken time out of their busy schedules to attend. I am also grateful to the other ARCs who presented on their examples of good practice and innovative research.”

A special virtual booklet was prepared for audience members which showcased best practice examples across the ARCs.

Other speakers included Professor Gary Ford, chair of the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN) network as well as Chief Executive of Oxford AHSN. With their key role in implementation, AHSNs are vital partners in multimorbidity research.

Dr Madina Kara, who is the Multiple Long Term Conditions Strategy Lead at NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure (NOCRI), also presented and was the key link between the life sciences industry and those working on the frontline in translational and implementation research.

Feedback from delegates included:

• “The event provided a really interesting mix of speakers from different professional (and personal) backgrounds, and different career stages. Overall provided a really stimulating mix of content.”
• “The talks were very relevant and all provided loads of information about ongoing studies”.
• “Repeated meeting invitations and links to prompt attendance, meeting ran smoothly, including public involvement participants.”
• “Zoom worked well; key note speaker was excellent; getting balance between researchers, policy makers and clinical side for managing MLTC is useful.”