Biography
Nick is Director of CEDAR, as well as Director of the MRC Epidemiology Unit in the University of Cambridge. He is an Honorary Consultant at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge and Co-Director of the Institute of Metabolic Science. He was formerly a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Clinical Science in Cambridge. He qualified in medicine from St Thomas' Hospital Medical School, London, and trained in epidemiology and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, Harvard University, Boston, USA and at the University of Cambridge. Nick was Chair of the NICE Programme Development Group on the prevention of prediabetes. In 2009 he was a member of the WHO Expert Group on the classification and diagnosis of diabetes.
Nick undertakes research into the aetiological determinants of diabetes, obesity and related metabolic disorders, and the translation of that epidemiological understanding into preventive action. He is a Principal Investigator on the EPIC-Norfolk study and leads the working group for diabetes, obesity and physical activity in EPIC-Europe study. He is the co-ordinator of the InterAct EU FP6 funded project, which aims to investigate how genes and lifestyle factors interact to lead to type 2 diabetes. He has a programme of research into the genetic basis of obesity and type 2 diabetes as part of the Genetics of Energy Metabolism (GEM) consortium. His work on gene-environment interaction is based on quantitative trait studies and large scale population-based cohort studies. A key element of this work is the accurate measurement of lifestyle exposures including physical activity and he has developed and evaluated novel methods for measuring energy expenditure in free-living individuals in population-based studies. He is co-lead of the ADDITION study, a trial of screening for diabetes and intensive cardiovascular risk reduction undertaken in 3 European countries.
