International Clinical Trials Day 2018

18 May 2018

To celebrate International Clinical Trials Day 2018 the Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development (CDD) are recognising staff who work across clinical trials by awarding them with a 'CDD Clinical Trial Heroes Award'. This years recipients include members from the ECMC network. 

You can read the full list of winners and their reasons for winning below. 

  • Gareth Veal, Melanie Griffin and Lulu Cvetkovic at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research Laboratory

The oversight, management and documentation of the numerous samples they analyse for our trials is consistently to the highest standard. This is thanks to Melanie’s thorough and clear documentation as well as Lulu’s internal quality checks. Gareth and Melanie are always very helpful and quick to respond to any questions we have. They are an exemplary lab. Gareth also volunteered at our Site Staff Workshops last summer, giving great talks on PK PD samples which highlighted the importance of samples and shared best practices. 

  • Lindsey Chudley, a Research Fellow for CDD studies at WISH lab Southampton

To do sample analysis for our trials Lindsey was willing to sacrifice her weekend to come to the lab and analyse a patient selection sample, so she went the extra step to make our trials happen! Many thanks to her.

  • Connie Peet, Specialist Brachytherapy and Radioisotope Radiographer, UCLH

UCLH’s recruitment rate is above what was expected because Connie is constantly searching for potential patients. Connie spends a lot of time arranging all scans and appointments for the patients and also has had a really tough job of telling patients and their parents when manufacturing has failed for the study, which is a really difficult conversation to have – yet she is still keen to recruit to the study and remains positive.

  • Thalia Loka, Registrar at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Not only does Thalia see the patients, sorting out lots of issues that these kids have, she also enters most of the data.  She does this without too many grumbles and always makes time to meet with me at visits and close out queries.  Thalia is always responsive to questions and will go out of her way to make sure that SAEs etc. are reported in the correct timeframe.  

Thalia is definitely one of the best sub-investigators I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. She is responsive and responds quickly to any requests, no matter how busy she is and if she can’t provide what we need immediately she will let us know and follow up promptly with the information. She carries the bulk of the day to day work for the trial and without her the data would not be in the great shape it is in. It is worth noting that this is one of our most complex trials and the database is therefore complex with a lot of non-standard pages / fields and so keeping it in good shape is not an easy job. I have no doubt that the reason the trial runs so smoothly is because of Thalia’s hard work and dedication to the project.