Professor of Child Health & Paediatric Endocrinology, Division of Developmental Biology & Medicine, Faculty of Biology, Medicine & Health

Honorary Consultant in Paediatrics & Paediatric Endocrinology at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, 1 of 7 Consultants running the Tertiary Paediatric Endocrine service for the North West).

Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at the Christie Hospital

Head of the School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology. Medicine & Health

Academic Lead for the Women & Children's Domain in the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre

Professor Clayton graduated from Manchester University Medical School in 1984 (Distinction in Paediatrics), having obtained a first class degree in Physiology & Pharmacology in 1981. He did his early paediatric training around Manchester before embarking on an academic career in Paediatric Endocrinology. His MD thesis was on "Growth Patterns after Neuroaxis Irradiation in Childhood". He spent time at the University of Virginia, USA as a MRC Travelling Fellow in 1990/1 with his work there primarily directed at molecular endocrinology in the laboratory.

He returned to Manchester to establish a research group of both clinicians and scientists, working under the broad remit of investigating normal and abnormal growth from clinical, biochemical and molecular perspectives. He took up a Senior Lectureship in Child Health in 1994, and was promoted to Professor of Child Health and Paediatric Endocrinology in 2001. He was lead for the Division of Human Development in the Manchester Medical School from 2001-2007. He was Director of the Institute of Human Development in the Faculty of Medical & Human Sciences 2014-2016.

He has >200 publications on clinical and basic science aspects of paediatric endocrinology. He has served on the editorial boards of a number of endocrine journals (Hormone Research in Paediatrics, European Journal of Endocrinology and Clinical Endocrinology). He has been on the Councils of the Growth Hormone Research Society, the Society for Endocrinology UK, and the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology, being Chair of the ESPE Corporate Liaison Board. He is currently Secretary-General for ESPE. He is on the medical committee of the UK Pituitary Foundation.

• Normal & disordered growth
• Pharmacogenomics
• Growth factor signaling
• Genetic causes for being born small and pathophysiological mechanisms
• Congenital Hyperinsulinism - clinical aspects
• Information needs and Communication in paediatric disorders for Young People

I run a paediatric endocrine research group with both clinical and basic research interests, the broad remit being – Clinical, biochemical and molecular study of growth & development

Our present projects include:

• Characterising the role of ubiquitination in growth disorders, using the 3M syndrome as a model disorder
• Genomic and metabolomic approaches to understanding why some children born small fail to show catch-up growth
• Using pharmacogenomics to predict clinical responses to human growth hormone treatment
• The Manchester Growth & Vascular Health Study – follow-up of normal infants to assess growth, growth factors and CVS parameters in White European and Pakistani children
• The Ibadan (Nigeria) Growth & Vascular Health Study
• Promoting better communication in young people with endocrine disorders
• The Hyperglycaemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes (HAPO) Follow-up study (NIH-funded)

• Keywords
• Growth Hormone
• Insulin-like Growth Factor-1
• Pharmacogenomics
• Basic Science
• Clinical investigation
• Genetics
• High-risk groups (eg ethnic minorities)
• Long-term/chronic illness
• Childhood obesity

Supervisor for Yr 3 & 4 PEPS and Yr 5 Clinical attachments

Supervisor for APEPs

Teacher for Family & Children Module in Yr 4

OSCE & OSLA examiner

Postgraduate:

Supervisor & Mentor for junior staff in paediatrics and paediatric endocrinology

Supervisor for Medcial MRes / MPhil / MD / PhD students

Collaborators
• Professor Graeme Black, Genetic Medicine (UoM)
• Professor Peter Callery, School of Nursing (UoM)
• Professor Kennedy Cruickshank, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Medicine & Nutrition, Kings College University of London
• MerckSerono, Europe & US
• Ipsen, Paris
 

Affiliated Academic staff & students

• Prof Leena Patel, Professor of Medical Education
• Dr Andy Whatmore, Senior Experimental Officer
• Dr Adam Stevens, Research Fellow (non-clinical) in Human Systems Biology
• Dr Phil Murray, Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist (previouslyAcademic Clinical Lecturer)
• Dr Daniel Hanson, Post-doctoral Research Associate
• Mrs Avni Vyas, Research Assistant (HAPO)
• Ms Aysha Khan, Research Assistant (HAPO)
• Dr Sophia Khan, MD Student (Clinical)
• Dr Reena Perchard, Clinical Fellow
• Dr Jasmin Farkullah (Academic FY2)

The British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes

The Society for Endocrinology (served on Council)

The Pituitary Foundation Medical Committee

Academic Paediatric Association GB & Ireland

The European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (serving on Council)

The Growth Hormone Research Society (served on Council)

The Endocrine Society (US)

Cohort Studies

Clinical Trials

Laboratory Science

Research in Children & Adolescents

• BSc Hons 1st Class Physiology and Pharmacology University of Manchester 1981
• MB ChB (Distinction Paediatrics) University of Manchester 1984
• MRCP London 1989
• MD (Growth Patterns after Neuroaxis Irradiation) University of Manchester 1990
• FRCPCH 1998

Promoting education, training and research in paediatric endocrinology internationally in my role in the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology

Promoting clinical academic careers in my role as Head of the School of Medical Sciences

Providing medical advice to the public through my role on the Pituitary Foundation Medical Committee

Giving lectures and seminars to family groups with paediatric endocrine disorders