Dr Leigh Jackson

About me:

Leigh has a combination of experience in both laboratory and social science settings. His current work involves investigating the penetrance of rare genetic variants in population cohorts and the implications for patient communication. His previous work around informed consent for genetic testing in research and the clinic was a natural extension of his time based in a research laboratory within Derby General Hospital, during which time he was responsible for obtaining informed consent to participate in genetic research from women undergoing clinical treatment. Closely working with NHS scientists, nurses, midwives and surgeons within the 100,000 Genomes Project, as well as in fertility and oncology contexts has given Leigh a sound understanding of the healthcare system – an absolute necessity for health services research. His progression into social science research has been helped enormously by his involvement in a number of pan-European, multi-disciplinary, multi-partner projects where he has worked alongside the preeminent clinical, ethical and social researchers in genomics. Working with human stem cells for many years gave Leigh invaluable insight into the myriad ethical issues and concerns which closely mirror those surrounding the current debate on genome-wide technologies. Leigh has experience of conducting systematic reviews, and both qualitative thematic analysis and quantitative analysis of large datasets, including UK Biobank data.

In 2014, Leigh volunteered to be deployed to Sierra Leone as part of the Public Health England response to the Ebola epidemic. He worked as part of a team to establish a rural field lab in a treatment centre testing samples from the local community for Malaria and Ebola.

Leigh currently lectures on a number of undergraduate and post-graduate modules giving him experience of teaching to both student and fully qualified healthcare professionals. He has received positive feedback from students and course leads, and in March 2015 he was nominated for an SSTAR staff award for outstanding contribution to University life. Leigh also leads the Gen-Equip project delivering genetics education to primary care which received the 2017 European Health Award from the European Health Forum Gastein.

Leigh has supervised two PhD students to successful completion and has another student who has just started, along with a large number of MSc students; in previous roles Leigh has been responsible for the training and supervision of:

• Medical doctorate students on their 6-month laboratory placements

• PhD students

• Master’s students

• Undergraduate project students.

Interests:

• Penetrance of rare genetic variants in population cohorts
• Incidental and secondary findings from genomic testing
• Patient communication of risk
• Pharmacogenomic risk variants and duty to disclose to research participants
• Genomics education interventions for healthcare professionals

Qualifications:

• BSc (Hons) Genetics
• PgCert Genomic Medicine
• PgCert Academic Practice
• PhD Human Development

Grants/Funding:

• Sanctuary PhD Scholarship award (primary supervisor) £90,000. Pharmacogenomic risk genotypes in UK Biobank
• Science foundation Ireland, €48750 (Co-investigator) Developing resources and touring Southern Ireland regarding the options available for genetic testing around and during pregnancy. (Project not yet commenced due to referendum)
• Gastein Forum, European Health Award, €10,000 2017
• Astra Zeneca unrestricted educational grant, £43,492 (Co-investigator) 2015
• ERASMUS + GenEquip project grant €246,748 (named researcher) 2014
• Plymouth University Pump-priming grant 2014
• Visiting researcher fellowship, Brocher Foundation, Geneva. March-April 2014
• EU COST CHIP-ME project grant (UK substitute management committee member) €36,000,000 2013
• EU TEMPUS MedGen project grant (Project council member and named researcher) €742,877 2013
• Plymouth University Social Science collaboration fund 2012-2013
• Plymouth University Pump-Priming grant 2011-2012