John Douglas Pickard (born 21 March 1946) is a British

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences of

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He is the honorary director of the

National Institute for Health Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "impr ...

(NIHR) Healthcare Technology Cooperative (HTC) for brain injury. His research focuses on advancing the care of patients with acute brain injury,

hydrocephalus Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased intracranial pressure, pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor ...

and prolonged disorders of consciousness through functional

brain imaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the neuroanatomy, structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive ...

, studies of

pathophysiology Pathophysiology ( physiopathology) – a convergence of pathology with physiology – is the study of the disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is the ...

and new treatments; as well as focusing on health, economic and ethical aspects. Pickard is an emeritus professorial

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

, having retired as a professorial fellow and director of studies in medical sciences. He served as president of the

Society of British Neurological Surgeons The Society of British Neurological Surgeons is a medical association for British neurosurgeons. History It was formed in 1926, with Sir Geoffrey Jefferson and Professor Norman Dott. Sir Charles Alfred Ballance was the first President. Other fo ...

from 2006 to 2008.

Education

Pickard attended

King George V Grammar School, Southport King George V Sixth Form College (KGV) is a sixth form college in Southport, Merseyside, England. It provides A-level and BTEC education, and between 2009 and 2012 offered the International Baccalaureate Diploma. It was previously a grammar s ...

and then studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge (

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

with

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in Physiology and Biophysics in 1967). He then completed his

Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a major teaching hospital and major trauma centre in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It is managed by K ...

in London in 1970 and

Master of Surgery The Master of Surgery (Latin: Magister Chirurgiae) is an advanced qualification in surgery. Depending upon the degree, it may be abbreviated ChM, MCh, MChir or MS. At a typical medical school the program lasts between two and three years. The p ...

(MChir with distinction for his thesis on ‘The Role of

Prostaglandins The prostaglandins (PG) are a group of physiologically active lipid compounds called eicosanoids having diverse hormone-like effects in animals. Prostaglandins have been found in almost every tissue in humans and other animals. They are derive ...

in the Control of the Cerebral Circulation’) from the University of Cambridge in 1981. He is a Fellow of the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The College has seven active faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical practices. Its main campus is located on ...

since 1974 and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(

Ad eundem Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

) since 1989. Since 1998, Pickard has been a Fellow of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

Career

Pickard trained in

at the Institute of Neurological Sciences in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He then became an honorary consultant neurosurgeon and

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this concep ...

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

and professor of

clinical neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

at the Wessex Neurological Centre and

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

. In 1991, he was appointed the first professor of neurosurgery at the

, based at

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campu ...

. His clinical practice included, at various times, subspecialty interests in neurovascular surgery, complex necks, hydrocephalus and tumours of the pituitary gland and IIIrd ventricle. With colleagues, Pickard established and was the first chairman and clinical director of the

Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre The Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre (WBIC) is a UK Biomedical Imaging Centre, located at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, England, on the Cambridge Bio-Medical Campus at the southwestern end of Hills Road. It is a division of the Department of ...

(WBIC), a division of the University of Cambridge's Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Pickard, in his capacity with the WBIC, worked with patients who were critically ill, the morbidly obese and patients with acute mental health and addiction problems. From 2001 to 2013, Pickard was the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(NHS) divisional director for neurosciences at Addenbrooke's Hospital. In 2009, Pickard became an NIHR senior investigator. At the end of 2013, Pickard retired from full-time NHS practice and head of academic neurosurgery, but remained active in research as a voluntary director of research in the University of Cambridge. In 2013, Pickard became the first Cambridge HTC honorary director, which is one of eight national co-operatives that receive funding from the NIHR. The Cambridge HTC is the only HTC to focus on brain injury. In addition to his presidency of

(SBNS), Pickard was previously chairman of the Joint Neurosciences Council and remains the honorary civilian consultant for neurosurgery to the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Pickard was a member of the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

Animal Procedures Committee The Animal Procedures Committee advised the British Home Secretary on matters related to animal testing in the UK. The function of the committee was made a statutory requirement by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (the ASPA), which mand ...

and chaired a report into the assessment of cumulative severity and lifetime experience in non-human primates used in neuroscience. This report, also called the Pickard Report, was published in 2013. In addition, Pickard was also president of Academia Eurasiana Neurochirurgica from 2011 to 2012. Pickard is a patron and former president of Cambridgeshire Headway, a founder-trustee and chairman of the research committee of the Brain and Spine Foundation, a trustee of the

Brain Research Trust Brain Research UK, formerly known as the Brain Research Trust, is a United Kingdom medical research charity dedicated to the research of neurological diseases and conditions. Registered charity no. 1137560 About Founded in 1971 to support rese ...

and was the first patron of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) UK.

Research

Pickard's research focuses on the care of critically ill patients after brain injury. He led the British Aneurysm Nimodipine trial (BRANT), which demonstrated that

nimodipine Nimodipine, sold under the brand name Nimotop among others, is calcium channel blocker used in preventing vasospasm secondary to subarachnoid hemorrhage (a form of cerebral hemorrhage). It was originally developed within the calcium channel ...

reduces the incidence of poor outcomes after

subarachnoid haemorrhage Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural openi ...

by 40 percent. His work has included definition of how early insults to the brain in both childhood and later life may lead to late changes in cognitive outcome and new ways of detecting when the blood supply to critical areas of the brain becomes a risk. Pickard established and chairs the Impaired Consciousness Research Group in Cambridge, which demonstrated that

functional neuroimaging Functional neuroimaging is the use of neuroimaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function, often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in certain brain areas and specific mental functions. It is primarily used a ...

could be used to detect awareness in patients who are incapable of generating any recognisable behavioural response and appeared to be in a vegetative state. Pickard has also studied which parts of the brain are affected in

normal pressure hydrocephalus Normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), also called malresorptive hydrocephalus, is a form of communicating hydrocephalus in which excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs in the ventricles, and with normal or slightly elevated cerebrospinal fluid p ...

and novel treatments for pseudotumor cerebri and cerebral venous disorders. With others, Pickard established the Cambridge Shunt Evaluation Laboratory, which provides an international service for shunt testing

in-vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, and pl ...

, and the UK Shunt Registry in 1994. The formation of the Registry was funded by the UK Department of Health Medical Devices Agency and contains data on over 70,000

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the bra ...

(CSF) shunt-related procedures. Pickard has published some 500 publications in scientific and medical journals, including ''Nature New Biology'', the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'', ''Nature'', ''Science'',

Brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

, ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'' and the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. Hist ...

''. He has co-authored 6 books, including a monograph on 'Pseudotumor cerebri syndrome'. He was formerly editor-in-chief of the series ''Advances in Technical Standards in Neurosurgery'', editor-in-chief of the ''

British Journal of Neurosurgery The ''British Journal of Neurosurgery'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal that covers neurosurgery and neurology. It is published in association with the Society of British Neurological Surgeons. The editor-in-chief is Nitin Mukerji. According ...

'' (2000-2006) and neurosurgical editor of the ''

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry The ''Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the BMJ Group. It covers research and reviews in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry. Its Editor-in-Chief is Matthe ...

''. The ISI Web of Science credits him with an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...

of 67.

Honours and awards

In 2000, Pickard received the Robert H. Pudenz Award for excellence in CSF physiology. In 2008, he was awarded the Docteur Honoris Causa from the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In 2010, Pickard was awarded the Guthrie Memorial Medal of the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

and named as one of Britain's top doctors by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. In 2014, he received the Lifetime Achievement Appreciation Award from the International Society for Hydrocephalus and CSF Disorders. Pickard was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to neurosciences, neurosurgery and research for patients with complex neurological disorders.

References

External links

Professor John Pickard: Cambridge Neuroscience
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickard, John Douglas 1946 births Living people People educated at King George V College Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Alumni of King's College London Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Academics of the University of Southampton Medical academics at the University of Cambridge Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge English neurosurgeons Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Professors of the University of Cambridge