I studied Biochemistry and Medicine at the University of Bristol, and following Specialist Registrar training in Chemical Pathology (Metabolic Medicine) at St Mary’s Hospital, London, undertook a DPhil at the University of Oxford (Somerville College) as an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow, supervised by Prof Rajesh Thakker FRS. I then conducted postdoctoral research as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Oxford before being appointed as a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Liverpool. My work has focused on characterising the biochemical and molecular basis of mineral metabolism. I was awarded the 2013 ACB Professor’s Prize for Sustained Research in Clinical Biochemistry, and in 2017 was elected to the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland. In February 2019 I returned to the University of Oxford to establish a centre investigating the molecular endocrinology of lactation.

Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation

European Union Horizon 2020 Programme

Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland

Prof Fadil Hannan has been awarded the 2023 Clinical Endocrinology Journal Foundation Lecture. He delivered a plenary lecture entitled 'Hormones Initiating Human Lactation' at the Society for Endocrinology BES meeting in Glasgow, November 2023

RESEARCH

Breastfeeding is of global importance for the promotion of optimal infant development and maternal health. However, the endocrine processes that ensure lactation adequacy remain to be elucidated. A world-class centre, funded by the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation (FLRF), is being established at the University of Oxford to investigate the molecular endocrinology of human lactation.

Our objectives are to:

1) Characterise the endocrine control of lactation and establish reference standards applicable across a range of populations for the major hormones influencing human milk production and quality.

2) Define the signalling and crosstalk mechanisms between tissues that ensure lactation adequacy such as the pituitary, breast and bone.

3) Investigate how endocrine communication is mediated between mother and infant by measuring peptide and RNA signaling molecules in human milk.

4) Define the endocrine mechanisms by which lactation promotes infant growth and development, and reduces the maternal risk of type 2 diabetes and breast cancer.

Taha Elajnaf (postdoctoral researcher) 

Xin Meng (postdoctoral researcher) 

Hussam Rostom (DPhil student)

Michelle Ma (DPhil student)

Amy Archer (lead research practitioner)

Samantha Ewers (clinical research assistant)

Emily Hillier (part-time clinical research assistant)

Emma Newcombe (part-time project manager)

Professor Stephen Kennedy,

NDWRH, University of Oxford

Professor Rajesh Thakker FRS,

OCDEM, University of Oxford

Professor Lars Bode,

University of California San Diego