Introducing The School of Health's visiting professors and fellows
The University of Northampton aspires to be a university that has a reputation for research excellence in designated areas and where research and knowledge transfer activities underpin its entire portfolio, not least with respect to its contribution to the local and regional economy.
To enable this process, the university appoints individuals of high calibre as Visiting Professors to support the development of research, knowledge transfer and learning and teaching within the institution. The strategy of the institution shall be to appoint distinguished academics and professionals of leading standing drawn from either business, industry, commerce, the public and voluntary sectors or from higher education, whose work resonates with the academic community at the university.
Visiting professors may come from a number of professional and/or academic backgrounds and generally are given the professorship for one of the following:
- A distinguished career in business, industry or the public sector demonstrated by leading-edge consultancy activity and influence at a senior level of professional bodies and/or professional attainment.
- A contribution to an academic discipline, either through research or pedagogic development, evidenced by significant refereed journal papers and conference contributions, invited conference presentations, research management, research degree supervision and grants/contracts awarded. Distinguished contributions as relective practitioners may also be considered.
Each visiting professor across the university has been appointed under one of these two criteria and has different roles according to their expertise. In our case all the visiting professors are health or social welfare professionals of national or international standing who have contributed to the research and/or professional agendas in their area of expertise.
Matt Griffiths
Matt Griffiths is a national and international leader in the non-medical prescribing development agenda. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge in the new prescribing standards. He has published widely and is active at a national level influencing policy via membership of advisory bodies and inquiries. Matt works across the school in terms of consultancy and knowledge transfer in the fields of health policy and nurse prescribing.
John Turnbull
John Turnbull is a learning disability nurse by training and is now Director of Nursing of the Oxfordshire Learning Disability NHS Trust. He has previously been lecturing at Reading University and has published in the area of learning disability. John will contribute to the development of learning disability curriculum development at post-graduate level and also be involved in the development of a Professional Doctorate in public sector leadership in collaboration with NBS. John will be working across the school to link areas with research interests in disability such as sport, OT and podiatry and also with the colleagues in the School of Education.
Gordon Da Silva
Gordon Da Silva is a visiting professor in Social Entrepreneurship and works closely with the Social work division of the school.
Bill Ribbans
Bill Ribbans is a visiting professor in Surgical Sciences and an orthopaedic surgeon at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust and the Three Shires Hospital. He is involved in several projects with the Podiatry and Biosciences Research groups including the Genes and Health (GAS) study with Dr Stuart Raleigh.
Philip Sugarman
Philip Sugarman MBChB MSc MBA PhD FRCPsych is CEO & Medical Director of St Andrew's Healthcare, running hospitals in Northampton, Birmingham, Essex, London and Mansfield. St Andrew's is the largest charitable provider to the NHS and is the country's biggest independent hospital, and as a teaching and research centre is closely linked with the School of Health.
Philip works on healthcare management and governance with many parties including Oxford University Business School and McKinsey & Co, as well as the Northampton Business School, and is widely published in psychiatry and management. He is a Trustee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and a Director of Three Shires Hospital in Northampton.
