Connett, Dr Gary

MB ChB DCH FRCPCH MD  

Speciality

Paediatrics 

Sub-speciality

Respiratory 

Training and Education

Graduated Bristol University 1984, Trained in Bristol, Great Ormond Street, Birmingham Children's Hospital, National University of Singapore and Southampton in Resiratory Paediatrics 

Experience

Dr Connett has worked for Southampton University Hospitals Trust since 1995.

Regional Director of paediatric CF services. Providing tertiary respiratory services to the region. 

Key achievements

I have been a leader in postgraduate paediatric education for over three years as Programme Director and more recently have combined this role with that of Regional Advisor. I chair the Wessex Specialist Training Committee in Paediatrics and am working towards the creation of a Postgraduate School of  Paediatrics. I have helped steer over 100 trainees through the changes brought about through MTAS, and worked with the Deanery to ensure quality assurance for paediatric training throughout Wessex. I was 1 of the 7 "Key Researchers" in the successful application for NIHR funding of up to £1 million/annum for the next 4 years in support of a Biomedical Research Unit (BRU) in Respiratory Disease.I am the clinical lead for Programme 4 of the BRU concerned with translational research in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) pulmonary infection.I am the clinical lead in a research programme concerned with polymicrobial infectious disease processes in chronic lung conditions and am the lead investigator in a fully funded (£170,000) interventional study in CF to try and prevent chronic pseudomonas lung infection. Member of the executive steering group for the management of asthma on behalf of BTS/SIGN. I remain actively involved with paediatric health care issues in developing countries and have recently visited Nepal and Latvia during my own time. I have an ongoing project in Latvia concerned with CF diagnosis and health care provision.  

Key awards and prizes

Grants awarded in the last 5 years include:October 2008 “Microbiological assessment of prophylactic ciprofloxacin therapy for children with cystic fibrosis during viral respiratory viral infection to prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonisation.” Principal Investigator; SPARKS £179,000 3 years.May 2008 NIHR Grant to establish a respiratory BRU at SUHT (Co-applicant). Approximately £1 million/year for the next 4 years.May 2006 Post Doctoral research Assistant  “Molecular microbiological analysis of respiratory specimens sampled from infants with chronic lung disease of prematurity” British Lung Foundation Co-applicant with Dr K Bruce and Dr V Puddy £68,500.Mar 2005  PhD Studentship/Post Doctoral Research Assistant “Characterising the longitudinal dynamics of bacterial carriage in the cystic fibrosis lung” Co-applicant with Mary Carroll and Ken Bruce, SUHT/Kings. 3 years approx £500K, Anna Trust.Mar 2005. Post Doctoral Research Assistant “The detection and treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lungs of paediatric cystic fibrosis patients” Co-applicant with Mary Carroll and Ken Bruce, SUHT. 1 year £40K. SPARKS.June 2005. MD Studentship. Can monitoring exhaled nitric oxide levels in outpatients improve the management of children with asthma? Co-applicant with Graham Roberts and Julian Legg  2 years £95,833. SPARKS.Oct 2005. PhD studentship “Species interacting in complex biofilms”. BBSRC co-funding for three years Co-applicant with Mary Carroll and Ken Bruce, SUHT, 3 years £70K. 

Research

Colloidal Silver for lung disease in cystic fibrosis VR Baral, AL Dewar, GJ Connett R Soc Med 2008;101:51-52 Once versus three times daily regimens of tobramycin treatment for pulmonary exacerbations of cystic fibrosis – the TOPIC study: a randomised controlled trial A Smyth, et al for the TOPIC Study Group (G Connett) Lancet 2005;365:573-578 Cystic fibrosis diagnosed after 2 months of age leads to worse outcomes and requires more therapy.Sims EJ, Clark A, McCormick J, Mehta G, Connett G, Mehta G Pediatrics 2007 Jan;119(1):19-28 Use of 16S rRNA gene profiling by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis to compare bacterial communities in sputum and mouthwash samples from patients with cystic fibrosis.Rogers GB, Carroll MP, Serisier DJ, Hockey PM, Jones G, Kehaqia V Connett GJ, Bruce KD J Clin Microbiol. 2006 Jul;44(7):2601-4