UCLH will be celebrating International Clinical Trials Day on 19 May with information stalls, tours and activities across the trust.
Patients and the public will be able to find out about clinical research, including trials happening at UCLH. There will be opportunities for the public to say what research should be happening; and more important information on how patients can get involved in research.
This year International Clinical Trials Day at UCLH will highlight a new campaign from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the government body that coordinates and funds research for the NHS, called ‘I Am Research’. The campaign aims to give patients, the public and health and social care research professionals an opportunity to raise awareness of the benefits of research and the positive impact it can have on people's lives.
The following locations will be open to patients and the public:
University College Hospital 10am-12.30pm, Ground floor atrium, 235 Euston Road, NW1 2BU Visitors can have a go at research experiments and games, including the ‘make your own clinical trial’ game complete with plastic figures and a UV torch; plus testing your tastebuds to find out if you are a ‘super taster’. There will also be opportunity to find out information about how to get actively involved in the design and conduct of research; and how to join UCL BioResource, an initiative that has already gathered 10,000 DNA samples from volunteers and patients to help researchers find out how genes influence disease.
Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre (LWENC), 12.30-4pm, Ground Floor, Albany Wing, National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, Queen Square, WC1N 3BG Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the state of the art facility and meet the clinical research staff. Key note speakers, including Dr Vincenzo Libri, Director of the UCLH Clinical Research Facility and Head of the LWENC, who will give an overview of the facility; Professor Thomas Foltynie will speak about the latest research into Parkinson’s disease; Dr Cath Mummery will speak about the latest research into dementia and Alzheimer’s; and Dr Nik Sharma will speak about the latest research into Motor Neuron Disease. The speakers will be on from 2pm in The Old Boardroom.
UCLH Clinical Research Facility, 1.30-3.30pm, 4th floor, 170 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7HA Visitors will have the opportunity to tour this brand new state of the art facility, meet the staff, take part in interactive clinical demonstrations and ask any questions about the delivery of early phase clinical trials at UCLH. Tours of the facility will start at 1.30 and 2.30pm and places must be registered in advance. To register a place email clinicalresearchfacility@uclh.nhs.uk or call 020 3447 2929/2930. The CRF will also have a stall at the University College Hospital ground floor atrium between 10am-12.30pm.
International Clinical Trials Day celebrates the day that James Lind, a Scottish naval surgeon, started his famous study comparing six treatments as part of a prospective controlled trial to treat scurvy in 1747. This marked the start of clinical trials research as we know it today.
View the ‘Find a Study’ database.
