Professor Jane E Norman, MB ChB, MD, FRCOG, F MedSci, FRCP Edin, FRSE
Responsibilities
As Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Jane takes the executive lead on strategic and operational planning and academic resources, working closely with members of the University Executive Board.
She line-manages the five Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellors (Arts, Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Social Sciences, and Science), working closely with them and other senior colleagues to ensure the delivery of world changing research, excellent teaching and an outstanding student experience. Jane works with the heads of professional services in the University to ensure issues that cross the academic and professional services boundaries are addressed effectively.
Jane also has responsibility for institutional risk management and takes the lead on strategic and operational planning and advice to the President and Vice-Chancellor. She serves on University Council and its Committees, as well as representing the University locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Profile
Jane graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1986. She was awarded an MD by the University of Edinburgh in 1992 and trained in clinical and academic medicine in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Prior to joining the University of Nottingham as DVC and Provost in December 2022 her previous roles include Regius Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Glasgow (2007-2008), Director of the Edinburgh Tommy’s Centre for Maternal and Fetal Health (2008 – 2019), Vice Principal People and Culture at the University of Edinburgh (2013 – 2019) and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Bristol (2019 – 2022). She was an Honorary Consultant Obstetrician in the NHS in Glasgow (1995 – 2008) and in Edinburgh (2008 – 2019).
Jane is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She has served as a Non-Executive Director of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston since 2021.
Teaching and Research Summary
For the last 30 years, Jane’s translational research programme has investigated factors responsible for the initiation of normal parturition and developed strategies for the prevention of preterm birth and stillbirth. Much of her work had been in conducting large multicentre randomised trials for the treatment and prevention of preterm birth and stillbirth. The interventions she has tested include drugs, diagnostic and therapeutic devices, and packages of care. She has conducted laboratory based and preclinical studies, which demonstrated that normal and preterm parturition are both inflammatory events and used routinely collected data to determine the optimal timing of birth for mother and baby. Her work has informed national and international guidelines, including those by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (UK) and the World Health Organisation.
She has served on a variety of grant awarding panels, most recently chairing the Wellcome Trust Science Interview Panel and the National Institute for Health Research Global Groups grant panel. She was a member of panel 1A (clinical medicine) for the 2021 UK Research Excellence Framework. Jane was awarded the quinquennial ‘Eardly Holland Medal’ by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2020.