Professor Dayan is a familiar face at the University of Bristol. He became Consultant Senior Lecturer in Medicine (Diabetes/Endocrinology) in 1995 and Head of Clinical Research at the (LINE) in 2002. However, he moved to Cardiff University in 2010 when he was appointed to the Chair of Clinical Diabetes and Metabolism and Head of Section at Cardiff's School of Medicine.
Starting in January, his new joint role will bring him back to the University of Bristol and help to build collaborations between the Universities of Bristol and Cardiff, and later Exeter and Bath, to create a world-leading GW4 centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Professor Dayan has a long-established interest in translational research in the immunopathology of Type 1 diabetes and is currently conducting early phase clinical trials into the development of antigen-specific immunotherapy. His clinical interests in diabetes include management of poor compliance in Type 1 diabetes, public health measures in the prevention of Type 2 diabetes and models of community care in diabetes.
He coordinates an EU FP7 programme in Type 1 diabetes immunotherapy and leads the Clinical Engagement and Training Core of the . He is also academic coordinator of the £4m , is a member of the JDRF Medical and Scientific Committee and the Health and Care Research Wales .
This experience fits well with the interests of the at Southmead Hospital, where Professor Dayan will be based. The group, headed by , has expanded rapidly in the last couple of years and currently consists of over 30 research staff whose work focuses on the causes, prediction and potential prevention or delay of the onset of Type 1 diabetes.
The group includes two independently-funded early-career fellows , who has a and , who has a Fulbright Diabetes UK Research Award and Moffat Travelling Fellowship. In addition, there are two postdoctoral researchers, seven postgraduate students, eight technicians, six nursing staff and five administrators.
The research group's laboratory is well set up for high-throughput testing with over 40,000 islet autoantibody tests reported annually for a series of national and international collaborative studies, including clinical trials. The clinical trials collaboration, is co-ordinated from Bristol, as is the , which has been recruiting new onset childhood cases since 1985.