A new clinical trials centre at UCLH and UCL will support the delivery of research in neurology and neurosurgery.
The Queen Square Clinical Trials Centre (QSCTC) – which had its official launch event last week – supports research across Queen Square, with a focus on later phase trials.
The Centre complements the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at UCLH, which has a focus on early-phase trials. The centre is supported by UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (ION), the UCLH Biomedical Research Centre Translational Neuroscience theme, and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) at UCLH.
The QSCTC will work closely with the CRF, and the Joint Research Office as well as the Dementia Research Centre at UCL to build the capacity and provide the support, required for UCLH to capitalise on new global pipelines of disease modifying therapies in neurology.
The centre has a core team led by QSCTC lead Dr Vino Vivekanandam, consultant neurologist at NHNN.
Speaking at the launch event, Dr Vivekanandam said: “We are excited to embrace an era of treatment opportunities for diseases in neurosciences and provide localised expertise in neuroscience clinical trials. We look forward to working closely with industry and academic partners.”
The QSCTC aims to provide Principal Investigators with advice, support and direction for delivering later phase clinical trials, and work closely with ION, NHNN, UCLH/UCL Joint Research Office (JRO), BRC and the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) in setting clinical trial strategies, priorities and targets.
The centre was conceived after a review and 2021 report by the ION highlighting areas of opportunity and need in clinical trials across Queen Square. Work commenced in March 2023 with mapping and review of processes involved in clinical research across Queen Square. Pump-prime funding enabling launch of the centre was secured by a by a successful competitive £3.5m bid led by Professor Michael Hanna to the UCL-UCLH strategic fund.
Anyone wishing to engage with the QSCTC (e.g. principal investigators, industry and academic partners) can do so via: uclh.qsctc@nhs.net.
Speakers at the launch event were:
Professor Karl Peggs (UCLH Director of Research and Director of the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)
- Professor Michael Hanna (Director, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and consultant neurologist at NHNN)
- Dr Chris Turner (Divisional Clinical Director and consultant neurologist at UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN)
- Dr Vino Vivekanandam (QSCTC Lead and consultant neurologist at NHNN)
- Professor Mary Reilly (Professor of Neurology, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and consultant neurologist at NHNN).
