Speakers at Leicester 2007

Sixth UK Tick Borne Diseases Conference
6th July 2007
Stamford Hall, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.

Dr. Joseph Burrascano MD

Dr BurrascanoDr Burrascano graduated from New York University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Nebraska Affiliated Hospitals, Omaha, USA. Then began 25 years practice in internal medicine, with a strong interest in tick-borne diseases. Dr Burrascano’s practice was located in East Hampton, New York- an area endemic for Lyme Disease. He has seen patients from 46 states and 16 countries. His research interests cover most aspects of Lyme disease and encompass diagnostic criteria, clinical manifestations, co-infections, advanced testing methodologies, treatment protocols and rehabilitation protocols.

Dr Burrascano is a founding member and current Vice President of International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) and is the author of numerous research papers on Lyme disease. He is probably best known for his Diagnostic Hints and Treatment Guidelines for Lyme and Other Tick Borne Illnesses which he has kept updated and available to all on the internet.

Dr David C Owen MD

Dr David OwenDr. Owen qualified as a doctor at the University of Wales in 1984. His post-graduate career has included appointments in Accident and Emergency medicine, hospital medicine and General Practice. Dr. Owen has on-going experience in the treatment of patients in an Accident and Emergency setting: for example, the surgical management of wounds, orthopaedic management of acute injuries including manipulations and the management of acute medical problems. Dr. Owen is legally qualified and has special experience in the preparation of reports for medico-legal purposes addressing issues such as fitness for work and medical negligence and has attended court as a medical expert.

In the last few years Dr. Owen has developed a special interest in tick-borne diseases. Dr. Owen is a member of the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS). Dr. Owen has attended the ILADS and Lyme Disease Association Conferences in Philadelphia. He acts as an advisor to the UK charity 'Lyme Disease Action' for whom he chaired the Fourth UK Conference on Tick-borne diseases in Sheffield last year. In 2006, Dr. Owen will again chair the Fifth Conference.

Dr Terence Daymond

Dr Terence Daymond
Dr Daymond trained for his medical degree at the University of Edinburgh, completed house jobs at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, and achieved his Medical Registrar at King’s Lynn.  Later he became Registrar in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation at Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, completing a diploma in Physical Medicine. He was Senior Registrar in Rheumatology at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and has recently retired from 28 years as Consultant in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation at Sunderland Hospitals. He is now consultant rheumatologist to the Breakspear Hospital, Hertfordshire.

Dr Daymond’s main interest has been in the effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the management of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis and he has a long-time interest in ME.

Dr Victoria Cairns

Dr Victoria CairnsHaving graduated in Mathematics, Dr Cairns then gained an MSc and PhD in Statistics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Early jobs included posts as Statistician at the Institute of Psychiatry, UK and then at the Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich. Work for MEDSIS (Institute for Medical Informatics and Systems Research) involved biostatistics, programming and epidemiology. She was appointed Research Assistant Professor at the Miami School of Medicine in 1984. Following some years with Aventis Pharma Deutschland GmbH (formerly Hoechst AG), lastly as head of the Frankfurt department of biometrics and data management she moved into freelance consultancy.

Dr Cairns has published numerous papers and now works throughout the world as consultant statistician in the planning, analysis and evaluation of clinical trials.

Dr Sarah Chissell

Dr Sarah Chissell

Dr Chissell has been based at William Harvey Hospital, Ashford since February 1998 as obstetrician and gynaecologist. Prior to that she was a registrar at Southmead Hospital, and a senior registrar at Poole Hospital and Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton.

Her first contact with Lyme disease was when her young son contracted it in France. She has since been on a steep learning curve trying to understand the disease and to negotiate appropriate treatment.



Dr Marie Kroun

Dr Marie KrounDr Kroun graduated from Odense University Medical School, Denmark and she has gained a broad clinical experience as a MD from work in many hospitals in Western Denmark. This included eight years experience in paediatrics and 2 to 3 years in general medicine plus experience in surgery and pathology departments. In 1988 – 91, while working in the Paediatric Department at Odense University Hospital, Dr. Kroun saw her first few cases of Lyme Borreliosis in children and in 1994 saw several more cases of that did not follow the rules outlined by standard works of the time. These cases and others have triggered her special interest in Lyme Borreliosis. Dr. Kroun decided to follow all children diagnosed with Lyme in the outpatient clinic for at least a year after the end of their treatment in order to learn more about the illness.

Dr. Kroun stopped working in the hospital setting in 1999 owing to ill-health and started the LymeRICK website in order to exchange scientifically published information with other physicians. Dr. Kroun has built up detailed case studies of a great many Lyme disease patients over the years.

Dr Andrew Wright

Dr Andrew WrightDr. Wright qualified as a doctor in 1983 and subsequently trained as a General Practitioner. He still works part-time in NHS General Practice and until recently as a Hospital Practitioner in Genito-Urinary/HIV medicine, General Medicine and Gastroenterology, and Dermatology. He also runs an Integrative Medicine Practice in Bolton, Lancashire, UK. The practice combines allopathic and alternative therapies with a large amount of nutritional medicine.

Dr. Wright includes giving medical advice to the UK Lyme and Borreliosis charity ‘Lyme Disease Action’ and also to ‘Action for ME’ the ME/CFS charity, within his sphere of activity. He was also a member of the Chief Medical Officer’s Working Group in England on ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndromes/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis’ (CFS/ME), an illness thought to be within the 'Fatigue Spectrum Disorders,' (FSD).

The research Dr. Wright has been involved in has included work with Dr. V. Pentreath at the University of Salford looking at the measurement of gram-negative endotoxins in the blood of ME/CFS patients. Dr. Wright has also worked with Dr. Roz Anderson, Principal Lecturer at the University of Sunderland in the Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Science/Autism Research Unit, looking at the prevalence of toxic tryptophan metabolites in the urine of patients and controls. Dr. Wright has noted for some time that more patients than would be expected carry unusual bacterial isolates and has worked on this phenomenon with Dr. Milton Wainwright at the University of Sheffield amongst others. Dr. Wright is currently involved in novel microscopical studies on the blood of many patients with medically unexplained symptoms such as the conditions mentioned. He is the lead physician in the Bolton area for patients with the condition ME/CFS that often presents with a spectrum of symptoms very similar to those that occur in Lyme disease and/or borreliosis. The symptomatic similarity between the two conditions has been noted in recent research, including some at the University of Glasgow.