We’re hugely proud to have not one, not two, but three colleagues among us holding the title of ‘professor’, the highest academic rank.

Our three professors are Andrew Deaner, Kenye Karemo and Darryl Wood. Read more about each of them below.

Professor Andrew Deaner

Andrew, a cardiologist by background, has a long history with our Trust, and that was even before he started working for us 27 years ago. He was born at the former King George Hospital site and grew up in Redbridge.

As well as Site Director for King George Hospital, he now has a new title – Honorary Clinical Chair of the Centre for Cardiovascular Medicines and Devices at the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

Andrew said: “I’m honoured to be a professor at such a prestigious institute as QMUL. It helps to strengthen the partnership between our trust and the medical school, and it is recognition for our whole consultant body.”

The post acknowledges Andrew’s dedication to teaching the next generation of doctors. He spent three years as deputy postgraduate dean at Health Education England, before becoming head of the school of medicine for the following five years. He’s also lectured for many years, on top of teaching on the ward.

Andrew, who became a doctor as a way of combining his love of science with a career which would help people, added: “It’s really nice to have the work I’ve done clinically with patients, management, and education, recognised in this way.”

Professor Kenye Karemo

Kenye’s professorship, from the School of Health, Sport and Bioscience at the University of East London, is in honour of her dedication to workforce education, research and innovation.

She has been key in finding ways to tackle our workforce challenges, helping us to ‘grow our own’. Not long after joining us in 2017, Kenye was part of a team which set up a bachelor’s nursing degree, and innovative nursing pathways for local people to start their careers at our Trust. Last year, a bachelor’s midwifery degree was also introduced.

She has also commissioned and worked on two research programmes looking at advanced clinical practice, and set up a ‘researcher in residence’ model, embedding research in the workplace, closer to where the workforce challenges are.

Kenye, our Director of Education, Workforce Development and Research, said: “When I started out, I never saw myself as an academic, but I’ve learned to combine my love of learning, problems solving, and working with people.  

“I like to apply research principles to solve problems in the workplace. Evidence based practice is the best way to do things and I believe in getting better and constantly learning.”

A good example of Kenye’s problem solving came during the Covid-19 pandemic, when restrictions halted training for thousands of students. With her team, Kenye set up a unique model to help our nursing students graduate by employing them as HCAs, designing a clinical skill development programme to complement their day-to-day work so they remained on track to graduate. Many joined our hospitals this year after completing their training.

Professor Darryl Wood

Our emergency department (ED) consultant Darryl is now associate professor at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), but he could also be more affectionately known as ‘the snake bite’ professor.

Having joined our Trust from his native South Africa, with a PhD in snake bites, one of Darryl’s first questions was, where is the snake bite antidote? And it was a good job as it has since saved the lives of two patients suffering serious adder bites.

As part of his passion for research, which his professorship recognises, he’ll soon be publishing a paper on his experience with snake bites in our hospital.

The RCEM only grants two professorships every three years, in association with the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR). Darryl officially begins his tenure next January.

He said: “Research is my background and I initiated a research platform in our ED. We’ve done a number of studies. I also drive engagement to get trainees interested in research.

“It’s unusual for EDs to do research outside of the big national centres, and for someone like me, from a general hospital rather than a research centre, to receive a professorship of this kind. It’s really nice recognition of what I do and the leadership roles I’ve taken on across London and nationally.”

Darryl is also Academic Training Programme Director for the London School of Emergency Medicine and research lead for London with the Clinical Research Network (CRN), which sits under the NIHR. As well as leading research across north London, he also sits on the national committee with CRN.

He added: “The NIHR is interested in exploring how we can bring research to underprivileged communities outside of the main centres, where it is underrepresented. There is a recognised need to invest in development of research for disadvantaged communities.

“I’ll be looking at a model which we can get out to other hospitals. In our Trust we’ve gone from doing little research to being one of the most active in north east London. We’re getting there and I’m proud of that.”

Darryl is also a reader at QMUL, where he supervises a lot of research work. This is an academic rank just below a professor.