CRF opens its doors in new location

The NIHR/Wellcome UCLH Clinical Research Facility (CRF) opens its doors today in a new purpose-designed world-class facility in Tottenham Court Road.

The new premises mean bigger clinical spaces and better patient and staff facilities. The facility will open with a nine-bedded bay, seven clinic rooms, two en-suite single rooms, a laboratory and a pharmacy. One single room is adapted to be teenage and young adult friendly, with the support of the Teenage Cancer Trust, enabling adolescents to participate in early phase trials at the CRF.

Patients spending the day in the CRF can relax in a soft seating area where they can sit, eat lunch and watch television.

Previously located in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing, the CRF provides a dedicated facility for early phase trials and experimental medicine with specialist nurses, data managers, technical and administrative staff.

UCLH Director of Research Professor Bryan Williams, who has been acting as interim CRF Director, will now step down. Dr Vincenzo Libri has been appointed to the role of overarching CRF Director to lead the bid to the NIHR for another five years of funding support for the CRF. The bid to NIHR will bring together, under and integrated leadership structure, the Comprehensive CRF at its new site at 170 Tottenham Court Road with the Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre at Queen Square. Professor Tim Meyer has been appointed as Clinical Director for the Comprehensive CRF at Tottenham Court Road; and Dr Rachel Muir has been appointed Senior Matron.

Professor Williams said: “Leading the CRF has been a challenging but very satisfying experience over the past three years in which we have seen a major expansion of our early phase clinical trials programme, a major restructuring of the leadership and operations of the CRF and the design and development of the new CRF.”

Dr Muir said: “I have been extremely impressed by the level of clinical expertise in the nursing and medical team in the CRF. It is fantastic to have a new bespoke research facility which meets the level of care we provide and which will improve patient access to state of the art therapies and treatments.”

Dr Coziana Ciurtin will continue to lead as Director of the CRF Medicine Portfolio and Caroline Cook will continue as CRF Business and Operations Manager.

Principal Investigator Dr Rakesh Popat said: “I am excited to be part of this state of the art, world-class new facility, which can deliver experimental treatments to our cancer patients”.

The CRF move is part of moves to enable the expansion of UCLH’s Emergency Department. Thanks to the hard work of staff and the patience of researchers with trials at the CRF, the move and refit was a smooth process.