British Tinnitus Association

The British Tinnitus Association - registered charity no: 1011145

BTA's Professional Advisers Committee (PAC)

The PAC's objects are to:

To vet the medical and scientific content of Quiet, and of all BTA literature
To advise on all medical and scientific areas that involve tinnitus
To advise on the medical and scientific merits and demerits of supporting or endorsing, or not supporting or not endorsing specific areas of tinnitus research
To assist in the formulation of research strategy and in the policy and procedures for dealing with applications for research funding

PAC members come from around the UK and are all eminent tinnitus professionals who have a keen interest in helping tinnitus patients.

Lucy Handscomb - Chair of the PAC

Lucy qualified as a Hearing Therapist in 1994. Her first post was in Doncaster, South Yorkshire and it was here that she developed a keen interest in tinnitus. Since then she has provided Hearing Therapy at three different hospitals and currently runs the Tinnitus and Hearing Therapy service at St Mary’s Hospital in London.

As well as her clinical work she has been involved in the training of new Hearing Therapists at Bristol university and regularly teaches on several other courses. She is also a member of the board of the British Academy of Audiology and the lead editor of the British Society of Audiology magazine. Lucy is currently finding her feet in the world of tinnitus research, and she has been joint organiser of Tinnitus Update Lecture Course with Jacqui Sheldrake since 2001.

Jonathan Ashmore FRS FMedSci

Jonathan Ashmore is Bernard Katz Professor of Biophysics at University College London. Although trained as a physicist, he became interested in the problems of hearing when he became a Lecturer first at at the University of Sussex and then at the University of Bristol. He has worked on many cellular mechanisms of hearing and was one of the first researchers to identify amplification processes in the inner ear. In collaboration with other colleagues, his interests also include the mechanisms of tinnitus. He moved to UCL in 1996 to take up his present position, and was one of the co-founders of the new UCL Ear Institute which opened its doors to researchers in 2005.

David Baguley PhD

David Baguley is the Consultant Clinical Scientist, Head of Audiology, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. He trained in Audiology at the University of Manchester, and has been working in Cambridge since 1985, in which year he set up the Tinnitus Clinic. He has been extensively involved in clinical research, and has contributed to many peer reviewed scientific papers. David is the past Chair of the European Tinnitus Course and is a co-author of the book 'Tinnitus : a multidisciplinary approach' (Whurr Publishers). He recently completed a Cambridge Doctoral thesis on tinnitus.

www.addenbrookes.org.uk/serv/clin/surg/audiology1.html

Professor Adrian C Davis FFPH FSS FRSA PhD MSc

Professor Davis is the Director of MRC Hearing and Communication Group and the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme at the University of Manchester. He has many other roles such as an adviser to the Department of Health, the only non audiological consultant on the board of BAA/BSA, he is on the board of examiners for Bristol University and does the stats for the World Health Organisation. 1968-1970 Professor Davis was a novice/Benedictine monk at Douai Abbey. Professor Davis is the author and co-author on various publications, books and journals.

Dr Debbie Hall PhD

In 1993, I was awarded an honours degree in Psychology from the University of West London followed in 1997 by a PhD in Neuropsychology from the University of Birmingham. For the last five years, I have worked as a Research Scientist at the MRC Institute of Hearing Research in Nottingham, leading a small team of researchers who use functional magnetic resonance imaging as a tool for finding out about auditory brain processing in humans. At the moment, our research is primarily focused on trying to understand how we process different types of sounds and where in the brain these processes take place. I am also interested in the consequences of hearing loss and impairment for the organisation of these auditory brain processes.

Dr V Jayarajan MSc, FRCS

I trained and qualified as a doctor in the country of my birth, Sri Lanka. After this, I came to the UK in 1979 to complete my specialist training in ENT. During the course of my ENT training I worked in hospitals in Surrey, Birmingham and Slough. In 1986 I obtained the FRCS in ENT

( this is the specialist qualification for surgeons) at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. After this I continued working in ENT surgery for three years. During this period I became interested in Audiology, and decided to pursue this as a career.

At this time a Specialist Registrar post in Audiological Medicine in Sheffield became vacant, and I was fortunate to get it. I worked in Sheffield between 1991-1994. During this period I worked for 12 months with Dr Ross Coles in the Tinnitus Clinic in Nottingham. This is when I became interested in tinnitus. In the short space of twelve months, Ross and I Published two papers on tinnitus, and I presented a further tinnitus paper at the annual BSA Conference.

My interest in tinnitus has continued. I presented two papers at the recent International Tinnitus Seminar in Fremantle, Australia. We have recently obtained Ethical Committee approval for another tinnitus study. The main reason for my interest in tinnitus was undoubtedly the influence of Dr Coles. I also felt that it was an area where research could be both challenging and rewarding.

Mr Andrew McCombe MD FRCS

I qualified from Edinburgh in 1985. After some general surgery training in and around Edinburgh, headed south to begin my ENT training in London. This was followed by Registrar and Senior Registrar rotations in Liverpool and Bristol respectively. During my senior registrar rotation I undertook the research for my MD thesis entitled 'Wind noise, hearing loss and motorcyclists' which was accepted by Edinburgh University in 1994. It was this that began my interest in hearing loss and tinnitus. Following a six-month fellowship in Toronto, Canada, I became a consultant at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey in 1995.

I have co-authored three ENT textbooks and written over 50 scientific papers. I am also the former editor of the bi-monthly magazine ENT news.

Mr Don McFerran FRCS

Don McFerran is a Consultant Otolaryngologist in Colchester, Essex. He was a medical student at Queens' College Cambridge and Cambridge University Medical School. His postgraduate training took him through several ENT departments in London and East Anglia. Although, like many district general hospital consultants, he has a fairly varied and generalised ENT practice he has tended to concentrate on adult otology and particularly enjoys the management of vertigo and tinnitus. He has published widely on a diverse range of ENT topics including paediatric tinnitus. He is the ENT editor of the Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary.

Laurence McKenna PhD

Laurence has worked as a clinical psychologist at the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear (RNTNE) Hospital for the past 20 years on the study and psychological management of tinnitus and other Audiological disorders. He is head of the team of psychologists working in Adult Audiological Medicine and is a member of the cochlea implant team. Other work at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals in London has included the assessment and management of patients with neurological disorders, medico legal work, management of attempted suicide patients, cochlea implantation and sleep disorders. He is an honorary lecturer at the Institute of Laryngology and Otology, UCL. Laurence is the author and co-author of a number of academic papers and book chapters in psychology and Audiological medicine. His PhD focussed on psychological aspects of tinnitus and hearing loss. He is a member of the professional advisory committee of the BTA, and on an advisory panel about tinnitus for the RNID and is currently co-Chairman of the European Tinnitus Course.

[23 July 2007]