University of Exeter Medical School

Dr. Ravi Poorun

Dr. Ravi Poorun

NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Paediatrics

 R.Poorun@exeter.ac.uk

 Living Systems Institute 

 

Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4QD

Overview

Ravi is a Paediatric Clinical Lecturer in the South West Peninsula Deanery where he combines his clinical training as a paediatric registrar with his research interests in neonatal neuroscience, paediatric sleep and epilepsy.

Ravi studied Physiology & Pharmacology as an undergraduate at King’s College London before commencing medical training at Guy’s, King’s College, and St. Thomas’ Hospitals Medical School. In 2011, he was awarded the London Pain Consortium Wellcome Trust MBPhD studentship, and completed his DPhil from the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Rebeccah Slater. Here, Ravi sought to gain a better understanding of the development of pain perception in the human nervous system and understand the potential long-term effects of early neonatal exposure to painful and stressful events.

Ravi works closely with Professor Marc Goodfellow and his team at Exeter’s Living Systems Institute and Professor Rebeccah Slater and her team at the University of Oxford. He is Principal Investigator for numerous experimental and clinical trials at Exeter’s award winning Neonatal Unit and is an advocate for family orientated developmental care.

Clinically, Ravi aspires to work in paediatric and neonatal neurology, epilepsy, and sleep medicine. His long-term research goal is to identify methods of improving neurodevelopment outcomes in some of the smallest and most vulnerable of patients.

Qualifications

  • MRCPCH, Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health
  • DPhil, Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford
  • MBBS, Medicine, King’s College London
  • AKC, Associateship of King’s College, King’s College London
  • BSc (Hons), Physiology & Pharmacology, King’s College London

Career

  • 2022 - Present: NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Paediatrics, University of Exeter Medical School
  • 2020 - Present: Visiting Clinical Lecturer, Department of Paediatrics, Univeristy of Oxford
  • 2018 - Present: Paediatric Specialist Trainee, South West Peninsula Deanery 
     
  • 2019 - 2022: NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Paediatrics, University of Exeter Medical School

Links

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Publications

Journal articles

(In Press). Abstract.
Hauck AGV, van der Vaart M, Adams E, Baxter L, Bhatt A, Crankshaw D, Dhami A, Evans Fry R, Freire MBO, Hartley C, et al (2024). Effect of parental touch on relieving acute procedural pain in neonates and parental anxiety (Petal): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial in the UK. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 8(4), 259-269.
van der Vaart M, Hauck AGV, Mansfield R, Adams E, Bhatt A, Cobo MM, Crankshaw D, Dhami A, Hartley C, Monk V, et al (2024). Parental experience of neonatal pain research while participating in the Parental touch trial (Petal). Pain Abstract.  Author URL.
Baxter L, Hauck AGV, Bhatt A, Cobo MM, Hartley C, Marchant S, Poorun R, van der Vaart M, Slater R (2023). Statistical analysis plan for the Petal trial: the effects of parental touch on relieving acute procedural pain in neonates. Wellcome Open Research, 8
Cobo MM, Moultrie F, Hauck AGV, Crankshaw D, Monk V, Hartley C, Fry RE, Robinson S, van der Vaart M, Baxter L, et al (2022). Multicentre, randomised controlled trial to investigate the effects of parental touch on relieving acute procedural pain in neonates (Petal). BMJ OPEN, 12(7).  Author URL.
Williamson M, Poorun R, Hartley C (2021). Apnoea of Prematurity and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes: Current Understanding and Future Prospects for Research. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 9
Baxter L, Poorun R, Rogers R, van der Vaart M, Worley A, Hartley C (2021). Using changes in brain activity to assess pain-relief in infants: Methodological considerations with Benoit et al. (2021). Early Hum Dev, 157  Author URL.
Poorun R, Hartley C, Goksan S, Worley A, Boyd S, Cornelissen L, Berde C, Rogers R, Ali T, Slater R, et al (2016). Electroencephalography during general anaesthesia differs between term-born and premature-born children. Clin Neurophysiol, 127(2), 1216-1222. Abstract.  Author URL.
Goksan S, Hartley C, Emery F, Cockrill N, Poorun R, Moultrie F, Rogers R, Campbell J, Sanders M, Adams E, et al (2015). Correction: fMRI reveals neural activity overlap between adult and infant pain. Elife, 4  Author URL.
Coen CW, Kalamatianos T, Oosthuizen MK, Poorun R, Faulkes CG, Bennett NC (2015). Sociality and the telencephalic distribution of corticotrophin-releasing factor, urocortin 3, and binding sites for CRF type 1 and type 2 receptors: a comparative study of eusocial naked mole-rats and solitary Cape mole-rats. J Comp Neurol, 523(16), 2344-2371. Abstract.  Author URL.
Hartley C, Goksan S, Poorun R, Brotherhood K, Mellado GS, Moultrie F, Rogers R, Adams E, Slater R (2015). The relationship between nociceptive brain activity, spinal reflex withdrawal and behaviour in newborn infants. Sci Rep, 5 Abstract.  Author URL.
Goksan S, Hartley C, Emery F, Cockrill N, Poorun R, Moultrie F, Rogers R, Campbell J, Sanders M, Adams E, et al (2015). fMRI reveals neural activity overlap between adult and infant pain. Elife, 4 Abstract.  Author URL.
Hartley C, Poorun R, Goksan S, Worley A, Boyd S, Rogers R, Ali T, Slater R (2014). Noxious stimulation in children receiving general anaesthesia evokes an increase in delta frequency brain activity. Pain, 155(11), 2368-2376. Abstract.  Author URL.
Kalamatianos T, Faulkes CG, Oosthuizen MK, Poorun R, Bennett NC, Coen CW (2010). Telencephalic binding sites for oxytocin and social organization: a comparative study of eusocial naked mole-rats and solitary cape mole-rats. J Comp Neurol, 518(10), 1792-1813. Abstract.  Author URL.
Kalamatianos T, Grimshaw SE, Poorun R, Hahn JD, Coen CW (2008). Fasting reduces KiSS-1 expression in the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV): effects of fasting on the expression of KiSS-1 and neuropeptide Y in the AVPV or arcuate nucleus of female rats. J Neuroendocrinol, 20(9), 1089-1097. Abstract.  Author URL.

Chapters

Moultrie F, Goksan S, Poorun R, Slater R (2016). Pain in neonates and infants. In  (Ed) An Introduction to Pain and its Relation to Nervous System Disorders, Wiley, 281-293.
Poorun R, Slater R (2013). The neurophysiological evaluation of nociceptive responses in neonates. In  (Ed) Oxford Textbook of Paediatric Pain, Oxford University Press (OUP), 401-406.

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