Associate Professor Heidi de Wet was a speaker at the official launch of the The Physiological Society’s ‘'Physiology passport: Putting personalised prevention at the heart of resilient health systems‘' policy report in Parliament on 14 January. The event was hosted by the Parliamentary and Scientific committee chaired by George Freeman MP and Stephen Benn, Viscount Stansgate, President of the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee.
The meeting brought together a group of organisations, professions and scientific disciplines around agreed shared priorities to establish a long-lasting collaboration in the area of preventative medicine. Heidi was joined in launching the report by Professor Dame Melanie Welham (Former Executive Chair of BBSRC), Professor Catherine Ross (Chief Scientific Officer of the Scottish Government) and Dr Alistair Connell, from Our Future Health. The interest in preventative medicine was reflected in the number of attendees, there was only standing room left, and the outstanding questions and discussions after.
Heidi comments, 'I really enjoy working with The Physiological Society in my capacity as a member of their policy committee. I’ve been a member of The Physiological Society since I was a new post-doc in the department and found being a part of this active society hugely beneficial for my career. I was involved in the organisation of a small conference as a post-doc and also received a research grant from TPS in the very early stages of my independent research career. Most importantly, when my children were still very young and I could not readily travel abroad for week-long international conferences, I found the local, two-day focussed meetings outstanding for networking and meeting other UK scientist in my field. The Physiological Society includes all fields of cardiac, neuroscience, metabolism and systems biology, and I would strongly encourage students and post-docs to, if not the Physiological Society, join a learned society in your field and get involved in your community from an early stage. This this can really set your CV apart when you compete for grants and positions later on. I would also encourage students and post-docs to take an active interest in science in parliament. How many of you know that the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee existed? Go and have a look today!
https://www.scienceinparliament.org.uk/
You can read the report here
Heidi, pictured third from left at the official launch of the The Physiological Society’s 'Physiology passport'