The NI Clinical Research Network (NICRN) undertakes Diabetes research throughout Northern Ireland. The NICRN is part of a UK-wide initiative to provide opportunities for patients and clinicians to participate in high-quality clinical research.
The NICRN aims to:
- promote diabetes research within Northern Ireland
- attract clinical trials in diabetes to Northern Ireland
- conduct clinical trials across Northern Ireland to the highest standards of quality and safety
- provide infrastructure to facilitate the start-up of new trials in diabetes medicine
- improve access for diabetes patients to new cutting-edge treatments
Areas of interest include the following:
- Influence of diet and nutrition, endocrine replacement therapy, and drugs on insulin action and vascular function
- Type 2 diabetes therapy and cardio metabolic outcomes
- Understanding and influencing the outcome of diabetic pregnancy
- Evidence-based practice in diabetes care, including the impact of education
Dr Phillip Johnston BHSCT
Diabetes – Clinical Lead
Dr Philip Johnston is a consultant in diabetes, endocrinology and medicine in the Belfast Trust since 2014 and works out of both the Royal Victoria and Belfast City Hospitals. He graduated in 2003 from Queens University Belfast (QUB) and undertook post graduate registrar training in Endocrinology, Diabetes as well as Internal Medicine in N Ireland, in addition to completing his MD thesis through QUB in 2011. Prior to starting in Belfast, he undertook a clinical research fellowship in the department for Endocrinology & Diabetes at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA looking at clinical outcomes for total pancreatectomy and autologous islet cell transplant (TP+AIT) in patients with chronic pancreatitis as well as cushings disease databases. Together with nursing, dietetic and hepatobiliary colleagues he established a dedicated pancreatic diabetes clinic in Belfast in 2016 to manage patients with this form of diabetes and is active in teaching and research with 60 publications. Clinical interests include adrenal/pituitary, thyroid ultrasound, paragangliomas and endocrinopathy of cancer. Philip is the co-lead of the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network (NICRN) Diabetes and a Multi-Center Trial Investigator in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and is PI of FAME-1, SOUL, UK-EDI and UK-Adrenal studies.
Contact email: Philip.Johnston@belfasttrust.hscni.net
Professor Alex Miras – WHSCT & University of Ulster
Diabetes – Clinical Lead
Professor Alex Miras is a Clinical Professor of Endocrinology at Ulster University. Formally a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Consultant in Endocrinology at Imperial College London. His clinical and research work focus solely on Obesity and type 2 diabetes.
He is a graduate of Imperial College London and was awarded a Bachelor in Endocrinology, in 2000.
He was awarded a PhD on the Impact of obesity surgery on food preferences in humans and animals, Imperial College London in 2013.
He has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London since 2022.
Professor Miras has contributed to the clinical management and research of Obesity over the last 12 years, through his work at a high throughput Obesity Centre. The specialist interests of his research group are the mechanisms of action of interventions for obesity, focusing on pharmacotherapy, medical devices and obesity surgery.
Professor Miras is also Chair of the Research subcommittee for the National Bariatric Surgery Registry.
Contact email: a.miras@ulster.ac.uk