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Festive message from Chief Scientist Office
20th December 2022
The Chief Scientist Office share their festive message for the Research, Development and Innovation community across Scotland.
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A message from Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist (Health)
A message from Euan Dick, Head of Chief Scientist Office
As we come to the end of 2022, it has been another busy and demanding year, but one that has seen great progress thanks to the continued hard work and commitment of our community.
We are fortunate to have overcome the worst of the pandemic and can gradually see life returning to normal. Indeed, over recent months I’ve been able to attend events, return to the office and meet colleagues in person – a refreshing and welcome change.
After two years of interacting through a screen, these seemingly ‘normal’ activities take on extra importance and it has provided me with the opportunity to meet with many colleagues across our research, development, and innovation community, and extend my personal thanks for your continued hard work and dedication. As much as remote working has become a way of life, no screen can wholly replace face-to-face interaction.
I’m incredibly proud of our collective contribution throughout the pandemic. Whilst we continue to build on existing COVID-19 research and the scientific knowledge gained over these years, our portfolio is now supporting a more balanced range of activity across all conditions, phases and treatment types. I thank everyone for their work to restore the portfolio and we will continue to strengthen this over the coming year.
Our close-knit community is also evolving. Over the past year, we have bid farewell to several colleagues, not least our Chief Scientist (Health) Professor David Crossman, who provided exceptional leadership and direction to our work over the last five years, and particularly so during the pandemic.
But we have also welcomed new colleagues and are fortunate to have Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak now take up the role of Chief Scientist (Health). As one of Scotland’s most prominent clinicians, her vast experience, combined with huge optimism and ambition, places us on an exciting trajectory to ensure health research, development and innovation takes a central role in the modernisation of the NHS in Scotland.
Many will be aware of a significant upcoming milestone; we mark 50 years of the Chief Scientist Office next year.
Set up in 1973 it has provided the underpinning infrastructure and support for clinical research delivery across Scotland. Our collective efforts during this time have helped us to advance healthcare treatments, diagnostics and medical technologies in order to bring them to patients faster; and importantly also use research to determine what does not work, so we can improve best practice and focus resources on providing healthcare that delivers the greatest benefit to patients.
During this time of challenging public finances and ongoing NHS recovery, this work is more important than ever. However, I am confident that our skills, expertise, and ability to collaborate across NHS, industry and academia provide us with a solid foundation to place research, development, and innovation at the centre of a more modern, innovative health and care system; and at the same time attract studies to Scotland, and provide opportunities for patients and the public to get involved in research.
As we enter 2023, our collective knowledge, experience and skills are needed to accelerate this work further, and shape the resilient, adaptable, and innovative research system we see for the future.
It is ambitious work, but we should draw continual optimism and motivation from what has been achieved over these past years, and in doing so, can continue to count on the impressive strength of our research infrastructure and fundamentally, at the heart of that, Scotland’s internationally recognised status as a truly innovative, entrepreneurial nation
On behalf of CSO and the NRS Management Board, I thank you all once again for your professionalism, energy and dedication and wish you a happy festive season.
