Team ACHA welcome leaders in Medicine of Older People from Japan, Taiwan and Korea.

Posted on
21 February 2025

Read time
2 minutes

An ambition of ACHA is to bring the best expertise in care of older people from around the world to North East London and to share the best of North East London with the rest of the world.  With this in mind, our team were delighted to welcome visiting Professors in Geriatric Medicine from Japan, Taiwan and Korea on Wednesday 19th July.

ACHA Professor Adam Gordon welcomed the group with a detailed description of the challenges we face around healthy ageing in North East London and how ACHA will work with the North East London Integrated Care System to ensure we bring state-of-the-art research and service development together to improve things.

Grant Bourhill from Barts Life Sciences then shared the recent work to establish the Barts Data Platform, which will help us better understand patient populations and how to improve their care, and recent progress on the Whitechapel Life Sciences Cluster which will, when completed, provide accommodation for the largest grouping of academics, industry and healthcare professionals working together anywhere in the capital.

Professor Hamish Simpson shared his vision for translational research working at ACHA focussing on work around muscle strength, how to overcome age-related muscle weakness, and how to promote fracture healing in older people following injuries.

Two visiting ACHA fellows from Brazil joined the proceedings, showing how ACHA is working to establish global relationships in ageing research.

Colleagues from Taiwan and Japan shared exciting approaches to combining proactive exercise and diet advice with comprehensive approaches to medical assessment in older people – showing that this could have positive effects on independence, concentration and memory.  They also discussed new medicines that might slow or reverse muscle wasting in ageing, including some evaluations of the traditional Japanese medicine approach called Kampo.

Lots of areas of common interest were identified and we look forward to working with the Professors to exchange ideas going forward.  ACHA will continue to work to attract the best experts in our field from around the world to visit and work with local colleagues to bring the best evidence into practice.

ACHA offers an exciting opportunity for Whipps Cross. By integrating academic expertise into our clinical structures, we can efficiently address local needs and set a dynamic research agenda. Together, we'll utilise the Living Lab structure to create impactful solutions for patients, healthcare workers, and the ageing population in north east London. ACHA will be the springboard for local innovation, with international impact.

Dr Mark Rawle

Consultant geriatrician and older person’s services research lead, Whipps Cross Hospital

We’re looking forward to working with the local community to understand their health priorities for older people in north east London. ACHA aims to be a step change, placing the health and wellbeing of older people at the forefront. By uniting academics, healthcare professionals, and public health colleagues, ACHA will focus on the best ways to support older people. Additionally, ACHA will develop training and dissemination initiatives to ensure research evidence is shared and embedded into practice.

Professor Steph Taylor

Professor of public health and primary care at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London

Whipps Cross is delighted to support this innovative partnership, which will contribute to improved services across our local area and to wider NHS policy and practice across the country. By working with, and listening to, diverse local communities, clinicians, and caregivers our new centre will mix innovative research with practical tools to enable better care to help all of us age more healthily.

Dr Amanjit Jhund

Chief executive, Whipps Cross Hospital

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