New Heads of Schools
21 January 2010
Professor Ole Petersen CBE FRS
One of the world’s leading physiologists renowned for his outstanding achievements in biological sciences has been appointed as the new Director of the School of Biosciences.
Ole Petersen, who is a Medical Research Council (MRC) Professor, will join the School in February together with several members of his MRC-supported team. Professor Petersen has previously worked at the Universities of Liverpool and Dundee, where he led groups working on cellular calcium signalling mechanisms.
Professor Petersen has a distinguished research career to date and is recognised globally for discovering highly localized signalling events controlling secretion as well as intracellular tunnels allowing quick passage of calcium across cells. Last year he and his group discovered the signalling mechanisms inside cells responsible for the toxic action of alcohol.
He has received many accolades and notably was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2000. He is also an Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as well as the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. He received the Purkyne Medal from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in 2003 and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for ‘Services to Science’ in 2008.
Listen to a podcast with Professor Ole Petersen
Your computer cannot play the audio in your browser. To fix this, you need to make sure both Javascript and Adobe Flash are available.
Get the Adobe Flash plug-in by clicking here
To find out how to enable JavaScript, check the Help option for your browser.
Cardiff University campus users
If you are on the Cardiff University campus and have problems with plug-ins or browsers, you can contact the INSRV Helpdesk on extension 74487 or visit the INSRV webpages
Professor Petersen has recently served as Vice-President of The Royal Society (2005-6), President of the Physiological Society (2006-8) and Secretary General of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (2001-2009). He is currently Chair of the European Editorial Committee of The American Physiological Society’s flagship journal Physiological Reviews, which is ranked as No. 5 of all scientific journals with regard to citation impact. He is also currently Chair of the European Research Council’s Starting Grant Panel for Physiology, Pathophysiology & Endocrinology and Chair of Academia Europaea’s Nominations Committee.
Professor Patricia Price
The School of Healthcare Studies has also appointed a new Head of School - Professor Patricia Price. Professor Price has been working in the field of Wound Healing since 1994 and in areas related to applied health since 1989. She is currently director of research and development at the University’s Wound Healing Research Unit (WHRU).
The Unit is internationally recognised as a leader in the field of wound care and is at the forefront of wound healing research and education. It has close links with industry, and undertakes clinical trials of wound materials and devices and investigates the many facets of wound healing, leading to the development of novel therapies and wound diagnostic technologies.
Professor Price has an extensive list of publications and significant record of obtaining outside funding for research. She is currently the Secretary of the Council of the European Wound Management Association, the European representative for the International arm of the American Society for the Advancement of Wound Care and statistical adviser to several international journals. She is currently working with the World Health Organisation on their International Classification of Functional Outcomes for burn survivors and with EucoMed on a European Standard for trial design and outcome measures used in clinical studies in wound healing. Professor Price will take up her new post on 1st February 2010.
Professor Malcolm Williams
The School of Social Sciences is the third School to have appointed a new Head of School.
Professor Malcolm Williams was previously professor of Social Research Methodology at the University of Plymouth where he was Head of the School of Law and Social Sciences, before a recent re-organisation which led to him leading a new School of Applied Psycho-Social Sciences.
Professor Williams has a considerable interest in teaching and examining good teaching practice. During his time at Cardiff he aims to strengthen the School’s reputation as an all-round centre of excellence in research methodology, as well as undertaking research to examine changes in patterns of migration and housing. He took up his new post on 4 January 2010.
