Meet the speakers 

Professor Kevin Murphy (London)

Kevin is based at Imperial College London where he has more than twenty years of experience studying the gut-brain axis in the regulation of appetite and glucose homeostasis. He has won funding from sources including the BBSRC, the MRC, Diabetes UK and the Wellcome Trust, and successfully supervised more than thirty PhD students to completion. He is Head of the Section of Endocrinology and Investigative Medicine, Director of the intercalated BSc in Endocrinology, Director of Postgraduate Studies (Research) for four Departments, and Admissions Tutor for the Faculty of Medicine with particular responsibility for widening participation.

Professor Leanne Hodson (Oxford)

Leanne is currently a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Senior Research Fellowship in Basic Science and Professor of Metabolic Physiology at the University of Oxford. She obtained her PhD at the University of Otago (New Zealand) and moved to the University of Oxford to undertake postdoctoral work. She established her research group in 2011 after being awarded a BHF Intermediate Research Fellowship in Basic Science.

Her research group studies the effect of obesity and obesity-related diseases on hepatic lipid metabolism, through using a combination of human in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro models and stable-isotope tracer methodologies. Leanne is currently the Chair of the SfE Leadership and Development Awards Programme, a member of the Wellcome Trust Early Career Award Interview Panel, and the Medical Sciences Division Advocate for Research Staff at the University of Oxford. At this Aspiring Research Leaders Event she will provide guidance from her experiences to date including: navigating career pathways, optimising your CV, demonstrating independence, setting up and contributing to a positive lab environment. 

Dr Caroline Gorvin (Birmingham)

Caroline holds a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society and is based at the University of Birmingham. She obtained her PhD and undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford.  Caroline moved to Birmingham in 2018 to establish her research group investigating the fundamental mechanisms by which metabolic receptors assemble in membranes, traffic around cells and regulate spatiotemporal signalling. At this Aspiring Research Leaders Event she will provide advice on: demonstrating independence, obtaining and utilising small grants to boost your fellowship application, and will provide some tips based on her successful and (mostly) failed applications. 

Dr Chioma Izzi-Engbeaya (London)

Chioma is an NIHR Senior Clinician and Practitioner Research Awardee and is based at Imperial College London, where she undertakes translational and clinical research. She completed her MRC-funded PhD (investigating the neuroendocrine control of metabolism and reproduction) with Professor Waljit Dhillo and Dr James Gardiner in 2018 at Imperial College London. In 2019, she was awarded an Imperial College-BRC funded IPPRF Clinical Research Fellowship, which enabled her to continue her research whilst working as a Consultant Endocrinologist. At this Aspiring Research Leaders Event she will provide her perspective on life as a mid-career researcher, building a successful clinical academic career and her experience as a Leadership and Development Awardee.

Dr Mark Turner (Coventry)

Mark is an assistant professor in endocrinology and metabolism at Coventry University. Following his PhD and time as a postdoctoral researcher at Loughborough University, Mark joined the Centre of Health and Life Sciences in 2019. Mark’s research focuses on how lifestyle or pharmacological therapies can enhance skeletal muscle metabolism in health and disease. At the Aspiring Research Leaders Event, Mark will give his insights into teaching as an early career academic, his approach to developing independence and a positive lab environment.