Research begins at new health unit
The new unit, announced last year, sees the University of Leicester working with Loughborough University and Leicester Hospitals. Its work will examine how physical activity, diet and lifestyle can impact upon the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.
It will focus on therapeutic lifestyle interventions for patients with long term conditions such as diabetes. These interventions could include increasing physical activity and minimising weight gain after operations, such as gastric band surgery.
The unit has been awarded £4.5 million by the NIHR plus £1.38 million in capital funding from the Department of Health. Professor Melanie J Davis, professor of Diabetes medicine at the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, is Director of the BRU and believes that the award will attract leading researchers on both a national and international scale to the unit, which is the first of its kind in the UK.
