Princess Anne opens Centre for Molecular Medicine
The latest "jewel" in Dundee University's medical research estate has been formally opened by Princess Anne.
- By Marjory Inglis, health reporter
- Published in the Courier : 20.04.11
- Published online : 20.04.11 @ 10.38am
The Princess Royal showed a keen interest in and knowledge of the cutting-edge research going on in Dundee when she unveiled a commemorative plaque at the new Centre for Molecular Medicine (CMM), on the Ninewells Hospital site on Tuesday.
She toured the research laboratories in the £3.5 million centre which concentrates primarily on diabetes and skin disease and met not only Dundee's top academics in these and other disciplines but young researchers at the start of their careers, who are supported by the Tayside branch of medical research charity Tenovus Scotland.
The princess was welcomed to the new centre by Dundee University principal Professor Peter Downes, who described the CMM as the "latest jewel" in the strategic development of the hospital and medical school.
The new centre was established with funding from several large trusts but Professor Downes made special mention of the support provided by Tenovus.
"The Princess Royal is national patron of Tenovus Scotland, one of our most valued fund-raising partners," he told the gathering of guests, which included a number of women belonging to the local branch of the charity.
Local chairman of the charity, Professor Peter Howie, a retired obstetrician who worked for many years at Ninewells, was instrumental in organising Princess Anne's visit to the centre.
He said the purpose of the charity was to support medical research of the "highest quality," and over the last 20 years Tenovus Tayside had raised over £5.5 million which had enabled them to fund 330 research grants to local researchers.
Professor Howie said initial grants from Tenovus Tayside had stimulated research that launched a number of distinguished careers.
Addressing Princess Anne directly, he said her presence gave everybody associated with the charity an "enormous boost" and congratulated her on a prediction during a visit to open Dundee Cancer Therapeutic Discovery Facility at Ninewells in 2004.
"You expressed your confident view it would come up trumps," he said.
"I am pleased to tell you, you were absolutely right and they have identified a number of compounds with real anti-cancer potential."
WHO deputy director
The deputy director of the World Health Organisation, Dr Kazem Behbehani, from Kuwait, was also at the opening.
Dr Behbehani is also director general of Kuwait's Dasman Diabetes Institute, which has established close links with Dundee University and has recently prompted academics and clinicians to travel between the two institutions to share expertise and learning opportunities.
Professor John Connell, dean of the school of medicine at Dundee University, said diabetes was "a big problem" in the Middle East because of growing obesity.
"About a third of Kuwait's population has diabetes," he said. "They reckoned they needed to do something. The Dasman Diabetes Institute is being supported by the Kuwaiti government for a major development in diabetes care and research and education.
"Dr Behbehani has a vision to get diabetes care improved to meet the challenge of the needs of the population."
The Princess Royal also visited the College of Life Sciences at the university's city centre campus, where the charity also supports young scientists.
She met those undertaking research into neglected tropical diseases, of particular interest to the princess as she is president of Save the Children UK.
Unicorn visit
During her visit to Dundee, the princess officially welcomed the Frigate Unicorn into the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN). She visited the frigate at Victoria Dock in her dual capacity of patron of the Unicorn Preservation Society and the NMRN.
The Unicorn is the first ship in Scotland to be included in the NMRN and also strengthens the connection between the Royal Navy and Dundee.
The Unicorn Preservation Society chairman Lord Dalhousie said, "This magnificent opportunity to link Unicorn with the National Museum of the Royal Navy arose as a direct result of the Princess Royal holding a charity forum last year to mark its 60th birthday.
"All her charities were invited to discuss this challenge and opportunity and we all made some extremely relevant contacts.
"HM Frigate Unicorn is no longer a commissioned warship but she still firmly belongs in the naval family and this affiliation in today's presentation represents a very real and valuable integration of Britain's Royal Naval heritage."
"There is now also an opportunity for Unicorn to move to an ideal final berth within Dundee's new central waterfront development and it's almost exactly where she spent her first century in Dundee.
"This option brings HM Frigate Unicorn into a spectacular triangular relationship with RRS Discovery and the V&A at Dundee and would bring Dundee's two great historic ships back together."
The Unicorn was built in 1824 to the design of Sir Robert Seppings, the surveyor of the Navy from 1813 to 1832.
The princess formally unveiled drawings by Sir Robert, which are copies of originals held by the NMRN.
Director general of the NMRN, Dominic Tweedle, said, "The opportunity to welcome HMS Unicorn, a historic ship of national importance, as an affiliate of the national museum means that the story of the Royal Navy, its ship and its people can now be told on a national scale."
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