FOREWORD
This Annual Report details the many activities and achievements of the Chief Scientist Office in 2007-8. These will lead to improvement in health and patient benefit in Scotland, the UK and further afield. These outcomes will be the fruit of a close partnership between the Scottish public, patients, carers, the health research community in Scotland, expert advisors from many countries, the staff of the Chief Scientist Office and my predecessor, Professor Roland Jung, to whom special thanks are due upon his retirement. The quality, strength and superb collaborative ethos defining this partnership were immediately evident when I took up the part-time post of Chief Scientist in June 2008. We can now look forward to an important reshaping of health research funding in the UK, in which Scotland is taking a leading role through full membership of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research, thanks to strong support from the Scottish Government and its Health Directorates. We can be confident that the achievements of 2007-8 represent the start of an exciting period for research for patient benefit, especially in Scotland.
Professor Sir John Savill
Chief Scientist
December 2008