The UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH) is an academic department of the Faculty of Population Health SciencesofUniversity College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1946 and together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), forms the largest concentration of children's health research in Europe.[1][2] In 1996 the Institute merged with University College London.[3] Current research focusses on broad biomedical topics within child health, ranging from developmental biology, to genetics, to immunology and epidemiology.
The Institute of Child Health was founded in 1946 by professor Alan Moncrieff with the funding of a chair in child health by the Nuffield Foundation.[4][5] It acted as a postgraduate school of preventive and therapeutic paediatrics of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the University of London.[6] Moncrieff served as director until 1964.[5][6]
ICH sets out its mission to improve the health and wellbeing of children, and the adults they will become, through world-class research, education and public engagement.[2] To further this agenda, ICH joined the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences at University College London in 2006. The research is internationally recognised, with the ICH gaining Grade 5*A in the Higher Education Funding Council for England ratings.[7] The institute also won the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in 2000.[citation needed]
Through the enabling of various funding bodies incl research councils, charities as well as industry, the Institute annually trains doctoral students, medical students and other postgraduates.[8]
There are five academic programmes in the Institute: Developmental Biology and Cancer, Developmental Neuroscience, Genetics and Genomic Medicine, Infection, Immunity, Inflammation, and Population Policy and Practice.[2]
The Library provides information support and information skills training for staff and students at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and the staff of Great Ormond Street Hospital.[9] It is located on the 2nd floor of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health main building.[10]
The Library was refurbished and reopened in August 2017. Its facilities include:
105 study spaces with computers
Quiet study area
Study pod
Separate room with 8 computers and soft furnishings.[11]
The Library holds a range of resources (databases, e-resources and books) as well as offering training sessions and online tutorials.[12]
The Friends of the Children of Great Ormond Street Library holds a substantial collection of historical books and reprints of papers published by staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Child Health. The historical collections also include around 2500 volumes on paediatrics and the history of paediatrics, some dating from as early as 1819.[13]
In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, ICH was part of a UCL return to the Clinical Medicine sub-panel of Main Panel A. In this sub-panel, 80% of UCL research was assessed as either world-leading (43%) or internationally excellent (37%). In the assessment of research power, UCL's performance was top in the UK.
Research grant income is around £32m per annum
Bibliometric assessment of journal articles has placed ICH/GOSH in the top five children's academic medical centres in the world. It was joint third for citation impact, fourth for most highly cited papers and fifth on the number of publications. NB.
Thirteen Professors are Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences
ICH leads the Child Health component of the UCL undergraduate medical degree for approximately 370 students each year, a vital component of training tomorrow’s doctors.
ICH has nearly 400 postgraduate students, half of whom are undertaking taught programmes (Masters, PG Diploma and PG Certificate) and half of whom are research students (MRes, PhD).
NB. Paper numbers, percentage of highly cited papers and 5-year average citation impact (Evidence, Thomson Reuters Business) comparing papers published between 1988 and 2012 from GOSH/ICH with its international comparators.
Notable faculty of the institute, past and present, include:
Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, becomes Nuffield Professor of Child Health 1993 and Children's Commissioner (2005-2009).
Professor Sir Cyril Chantler, received a knighthood for his services to medicine in 1996, a former Chairman of the Board of Great Ormond Street Hospital, and Chair of UCL Partners 2009–2014.
Professor Carol Dezateux CBE, former head of the Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics at ICH, and now Director of the Life Study
Professor Philip Graham, former Dean of the institute, between 1985 and 1990
Professor Christine Kinnon, Deputy Director (Education) at ICH and Vice-Dean for Education, Faculty of Population Health Sciences at UCL.
Professor Catherine Law CBE, Deputy Director (Strategy & Partnerships) at ICH.
Professor Roland Levinsky, former Dean and Director of the institute, between 1990 and 1999.
Professor June Lloyd, former Nuffield Professor of Child Health, between 1984-
Professor Catherine Peckham CBE, who established the Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the institute.
Professor John Soothill, the Hugh Greenwood Professor of Immunology between 1965 and 1985.
Professor Rosalind Smyth, former director of the institute.
Professor Terence Stephenson, Nuffield Professor of Child Health and Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Professor Otto Wolff, Nuffield Professor of Child Health, former Dean of the institute, between 1982 and 1985.
Professor Eleanor Main, first Professor of Physiotherapy at UCL and Programme Director for Postgraduate Physiotherapy at UCL since 2005.
Moncrieff, A. (1962) The Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street, London. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 4: 92–93. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8749.1962.tb03109.x
