UCLH to mark International Clinical Trials Day

UCLH is to mark International Clinical Trials Day on 20 May, which this year coincides with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) campaign encouraging everyone to ‘Be Part of Research.’

Posters in hospital buildings and social media activity will encourage patients and members of the public to find out more about research and get involved – either by considering taking part in a trial, or by working with researchers to help shape research.

As the ‘Be Part of Research’ campaign begins, patients are working with researchers and PhD students to improve the accessibility of UCLH’s Find a Study portal, which enables patients to quickly and easily see which clinical trials they may be eligible to take part in.

And the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) has begun the latest in its series of workshops which train researchers in how to involve patients in the research process.

Covid-19 research

As a Research Hospital, UCLH has been key to the research response to Covid-19, co-ordinated by the UCLH BRC.

We have made significant contributions to trials of Covid-19 vaccines and vaccine alternatives, and at the height of the pandemic our clinicians worked with UCL and Mercedes F1 engineers to develop a lifesaving breathing aid now used in over 120 NHS hospitals.

UCLH and UCL developed several trials investigating potential treatments for Covid-19. UCLH was also part of clinical trials that found the steroid dexamethasone and the drug remdesivir are effective for patients hospitalised with Covid-19. And our clinicians and researchers were among the first to identify rare cases of blood clots in the brain and low platelets seen in some patients after Covid vaccination.

When the pandemic started, UCLH paused all trials unless they were related to Covid-19, or where the treatment involved was essential for serious or life-threatening conditions. Over 75% of our ‘interventional’ studies have now reopened.

Getting involved in research

UCLH typically has hundreds of research studies recruiting at any one time, with around 20,000 of our patients taking part in clinical trials, and a high number of patients report having a positive experience of research at UCLH.

If you are interested in getting involved in research:

  • Read about getting involved in research design
  • Visit our Find a Study platform – where patients and the public can search for trials taking place at UCLH by disease area
  • Sign up to the UCLBioResource – whose volunteers agree to be approached to participate in future medical research. Find out more.
  • Consider signing up to hear about taking part in Covid-19 vaccine studies
  • View a short online course developed by the NIHR looking at the role of research during Covid-19