Looking forward to the next quinquennium with Aoife Regan
As we are now at the beginning of a new quinquennium, we sat down with Dr Aoife Regan, Head of ECMC Programme Office, to find out what’s in store for the next five years for the network.
What you are most excited about for the future?
In the Programme Office we are all really excited about taking on responsibility for the paediatric network. The possibility of facilitating better access to new therapies for children is quite a motivator.
We are also eager to create the first network-wide strategy. So far we’ve identified topics such as facilitating patient access, enhancing the regulatory environment, working with industry and securing the workforce of the future. It should keep us all busy for a while.
And then, the potential of combination therapies to deliver significant patient benefit is becoming ever clearer. The network has extensive experience in this area, and we will be thinking of new ways to help companies access this expertise.
What do you think the biggest challenges will be for the Programme Office?
One area we really need to improve is reporting. We have a project ongoing to develop a new approach that should be less onerous for all involved and deliver more of the information we need. There are multiple systems in use across the network, which makes taking a network-wide approach technically quite challenging.
If you could only deliver one thing this year, what would it be?
That is a mean question! I think I would have to say, completing a project we have ongoing which is looking at how to help clinicians refer patients to relevant studies more easily.
We have been hearing for some time that it can be difficult for clinicians to access relevant and up-to-date information on suitable trials for their patients. We are developing a searchable database with all the relevant up to date information.
I chose this project as, in the short term, it is probably the one thing we can deliver through the Programme Office that could deliver immediate benefit to patients.
You launched the new ECMC brand at the Annual Network Meeting – so what’s next? Is it all just pretty wrapping?
The new brand is going to be vital when we start really proactively marketing the network to industry.
You are right we did start with the wrapping, but this has given us the framework to develop a suite of materials that we can take to conferences and events and shout about the network. We will make the materials available to the network so you all can also go out and promote the network too.