£2M FOR HEALING FOUNDATION CLEFT RESEARCH CENTRE - Following a £2m donation by the Vocational Training Charitable Trust, the Healing Foundation will shortly begin the process to select a UK University/Hospital to host the Healing Foundation UK Centre for Cleft Research supported by VTCT.

This 10 year research investment, worth up to £5 million from the Foundation, will explore the genetic, clinical and broader therapeutic issues of cleft lip and palate in order to improve understanding of the condition and offer better treatments and support for patients and their families. With a major ‘Cleft Gene Bank’ and a substantial ‘Clinical Research Programme’ envisaged, the programme will the largest of its kind anywhere in Europe.

Institutions are currently being encouraged to express interest in hosting either or both elements of the investment and a formal application pack will be available in the new year.

Click here for further information.

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT - New members join the Healing Foundation’s Executive Appeal Team. Four new members have recently joined the Executive Appeal Team, chaired by Sir Stuart Rose: Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, Mr David Ross, Chairman of National Express Group and Co-Founder of The Carphone Warehouse, Mr Andrew Grant, Founder of Tulchan Communications and Mr Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive of BSkyB Ltd.

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT - The Healing Foundation are pleased to acknowledge the generous support of Baugur Group, who have pledged £450,000 over three years towards the area of disfigurement and visible loss of function. Baugur Group is an international investment company, with investments primarily in retail but also in property and media, in Scandinavia and the UK.

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT This three-year patient-focused research project, commissioned by the Healing Foundation, conducted by the Picker Institute, and funded by the GUS Charitable Trust has found that patients affected by disfigurement are not getting the information they need to help them deal with the psychological and social aspects of their condition.

For further details on the findings of this study click here.

SYMPOSIUM - The Healing Foundation Centre at the University of Manchester Opening Symposium will be held on the 13th and 14th of September 2007 at The University of Manchester. It will feature a series of talks on wound healing and tissue regeneration from a wide variety of international guest speakers.

For registration details and a preliminary schedule please
click here.

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT – The Healing Foundation has announced £5 million funding for a Chair of Burn Injury study within the UK. This will be the largest single amount ever awarded to a British project of this type and the post will be the only one of its kind in the UK. It is an ambitious project that will emulate the work of the prestigious Shriners Units for Burned Children in the USA. The research centre will be established at a leading University, in partnership with a hospital that has a major Plastic Surgery Burn Centre. Institutions interested in hosting this post are currently being invited to submit a formal application to the Healing Foundation, with the deadline for receipt of proposals being the end of March 2006.  A decision will be reached regarding the successful applicant by November 2006.

Press Coverage (click the publication titles to view full articles)
BBC News

PROJECT UPDATE - Major psychology of disfigurement Project - The first stage of The Healing Foundation Major Psychological Project is now underway at the Centre for Appearance Research in Bristol, with recruitment in Sheffield, Bradford and Warwick scheduled to start soon. Dr James Daniel and Liz Payne, two members of the research team co-ordinating the project at the Centre for Appearance Research, University of the West of England, have begun to attend clinics at local hospitals recruiting patients, and a comprehensive protocol for recruitment from the general population (via a number of GP surgeries) is being implemented.

For information about taking part in this study, visit the Centre for Appearance Research website or contact Dr James Daniel on James.Daniel@uwe.ac.uk, telephone 0117 328 3975 or Liz Payne on Elizabeth3.Payne@uwe.ac.uk, telephone 0117 328 3913.

MEDIA ANNOUCEMENT -Enrique Amaya has been appointed the UK's first Professor of Tissue Regeneration to lead a pioneering £10million initiative at the University of Manchester investigating wound healing and tissue regeneration. The Healing Foundation Centre marks the beginning of a 25 year commitment between the Healing Foundation and the University of Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences.

Press Coverage (click the publication titles to view full articles)
The Guardian / The Times / The Telegraph / BBC News
Daily Express / The Sun / Daily Mail / Evening Standard

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT - the Healing Foundation has awarded a record-breaking half a million pounds to the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) at the University of the West of England, Bristol to fund a new study into the psychology of disfigurement. This is the largest single investment in a study of this type that has ever taken place, not only in the UK, but in Europe. The study will provide valuable insights into why some people cope with disfigurement better than others.

Press Coverage (click the publication titles to view full articles)
BBC News / The Telegraph / The Times