Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow

Dr. Horrocks was appointed as a Paediatric Neurologist in Glasgow in 2004 and took up a Consultant post in Paediatric Neurology with a Neuromuscular interest in 2005, following a one-year Muscle Fellowship in Sydney, Australia. He has since then has worked to improve and progress neuromuscular services to children residing in the West of Scotland. He currently supervises Clinical Research Fellow, Dr. Shuko Joseph and is the Principal Investigator in the FOR-DMD trial. Dr. Horrocks is a member of the Steering Group of the Scottish Muscle Network. He provides specialist neuromuscular care within dedicated multi-disciplinary neuromuscular clinics and undertakes general paediatric neurology on call covering the Wards, PICU, HDU and NICU. He is an expert adviser in judicial medical cases involving neurological and neuromuscular diagnoses.

Marina Di Marco is a Consultant Neuromuscular Physiotherapist based in the Children's Hospital, Glasgow. She has worked in the field of neuromuscular disorders for over thirty years and works with children and their families living with muscle wasting conditions across the West of Scotland. Marina has a clinical, research and teaching remit, and leads the neuromuscular physiotherapy service in Glasgow and the West of Scotland.

Marina participates in training physiotherapists for research trials globally and presents on standards of care and physiotherapeutic interventions at international workshops.

Jen has worked as a Neuromuscular Nurse Specialist within the team for the past six years. Her current remit is to organise and undertake clinical assessment at North Star clinics, co-ordinate patient care (both acute and out-patients) and is the trial coordinator for our current FOR-DMD trial.  Jen is a nurse prescriber and is currently studying for an MsC in Advanced Nursing Practice. She is in the process of completing an audit, investigating patient education and understanding of IM Hydrocortisone in steroid-treated DMD boys.

Shuko has is a Consultant in Paediatric Neurology at the Royal Hospital for Children Glasgow since 2020. She is a Child Neurologist with a special interest in neuromuscular disorders with a research training background. She completed her time as a clinical research fellow at the University of Glasgow and has been awarded a PhD in 2020 for the thesis entitled 'skeletal fragility in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: past, present and future'. She delivers multicentre interventional clinical research trials as a Chief Scientist Office National Research Scotland (NRS) Career Research Fellow. Shuko is also a Steering Group member of the Scottish Muscle Network and is involved in improving the bone surveillance programme, clinical service standards and in increasing local clinical trial capacity for future international, collaborative translational research in DMD.

My role is to make sure that all trial visits are carried out within the trial timetable and that parents are given appointment information for their visits.  I liaise with the clinical research team to organise the appointment dates and make sure that any tests that are required for the trial visit are arranged for the same day, as well as arranging travel for patients and their families. I am also responsible for data input onto the various clinical trial databases, answering any queries from the trial sponsors and accurate upkeep of the trial Master Site Files for each clinical trial taking place in Glasgow. In addition, I organise monitoring and site inspection visits.

Susanne is a Specialist Neuromuscular Physiotherapist, working with the Neuromuscular team at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, since 2014.  As part of her role, Susanne is involved with clinical trials, as a clinical evaluator. In 2020, she is working on the VISION-DMD and TAMDMD trials, and is also the research assistant for FOR-DMD and SCOT-DMD. The team are preparing to be involved in the SAREPTA-ESSENCE trial later in 2020. In addition to trials, Susanne assesses and treats neuromuscular patients along with the multi-disciplinary team.  This includes out-patients, in-patients and community visits. 

Sarah has worked at the Royal Hospital for Children Glasgow for fifteen years, and as part of the Neuromuscular Physiotherapy Team for twelve of these years. This post involves working alongside the neuromuscular multidisciplinary team, assessing and managing patients at the out-patient clinics and as in-patients on the wards. Supporting patients and their families in their homes and schools is also a key part of the post. Clinical research trials have become an increasing aspect of the role and she is a Clinical Evaluator for several trials. She completed an MSc in Advanced Practice in 2024.

Rebecca has been working with the Neuromuscular Physiotherapy team in Glasgow since March 2020. Her post was initially funded by the DMD Hub to support the team’s trial capacity and has now been made substantive in the NHS. She has extensive experience in a range of specialist rotations in both adults and paediatrics, in hospitals in and around Glasgow. She has worked in the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow since 2018. Rebecca has worked as a research assistant on the TAMDMD, VISION-DMD and Sarepta-ESSENSE drugs trials and clinical evaluator in the ULYSSES trial. Rebecca also supports the DMD clinics and works with the wider neuromuscular population to support the team in pursuing further upcoming trials.

I help to keep clinical trials running smoothly by making sure all patient visits happen on schedule and that families have all the info they need ahead of time. I work closely with the Clinical Trial Manager and the research team to set up appointments, coordinate any tests needed for the same day, and help to arrange travel for patients and their families.

Behind the scenes, I handle data entry across various trial databases, respond to sponsor queries, and keep the Master Site Files up to date for each trial happening in Glasgow. I also assist the Clinical Trial Manager in the organising of monitoring visits and site inspections.