Professor McAuley, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University Belfast, and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, starts the role on Friday 1 March 2019.

The EME Programme is a Medical Research Council (MRC) and NIHR partnership. The Programme funds ambitious studies evaluating interventions with potential to make a step-change in the promotion of health, treatment of disease and improvement of rehabilitation or long-term care. Within these studies, the EME Programme supports research into the mechanisms of diseases and treatments.

Dr Louise Wood, Director of Science, Research and Evidence at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), said: "I am delighted that Danny has accepted this position. I'm confident that under Danny's leadership the EME Programme will continue to fund high quality research with novel methodological designs, testing the efficacy of interventions which have the potential to improve patient care or benefit the public.

Professor Fiona Watt, Executive Chair of the MRC said: "We welcome Danny's appointment and wish him well in his role. We are looking forward to working with him and continuing our partnership with the NIHR through the EME Programme."

Professor McAuley's major research area is the acute respiratory distress syndrome and he has held research awards from both the NIHR and MRC. He has supported the NIHR in other areas of work, including as a member of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Funding Committee.

Professor McAuley said: "I am delighted to be joining the EME Programme as its new Director. The EME Programme supports the translation of early research findings to improve patient outcomes and I am looking forward to the prospect of helping deliver these objectives."

Professor Jose Bengoechea, Director of the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen's, congratulated Professor McAuley and said:

"This is a testament to his world-class leading work over the years in the area of lung inflammation and also represents a recognition of the excellent clinical academic research at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine strongly supported by the NIHR.

"We are proud of our work with the NIHR, and I am looking forward to maintaining a strong relationship which should be strengthened by Professor McAuley's appointment to this leading role."

More information on the EME Programme is available on the NIHR website.