Blog posts

Are the statistics from Covid-19 vaccine trials understood?

Dr Suzie Cro, Research Fellow at the Imperial Clinical Trials Unit and the HEALTHY STATS public involvement group share insights from their recent online discussion of COVID-19 vaccines:

Right now, in the UK and across the world, vaccines for Covid-19 are being rolled out. You may have already received, or be expecting a vaccination offer sometime soon. Vaccines are thought to be our main hope to control the Covid-19 pandemic. Their use has only been possible following robust and rigorous clinical trials, which have demonstrated that they meet high safety and effectiveness standards set by the UK medicines regulator (the MHRA).

How women with experience of miscarriage helped shape and design my research

This entry is part [part not set] of 0 in the series Case studies

In conversation with: Dr Bijal Patel, Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Registrar, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London

Project Details

My research aims to improve the diagnosis of miscarriage. Miscarriage currently takes several weeks to diagnose, resulting in significant psychological trauma for women and their families.

Levels of a hormone produced by the placenta, called ‘kisspeptin’, can be used to estimate the risk of miscarriage with a high degree of accuracy. The current method to measure kisspeptin levels in the blood takes several days to provide results and cannot be easily conducted in other centres.

Involving those with lived experience of Anorexia Nervosa in clinical trial design

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In conversation with: Dr Meg Spriggs (Research Associate) and Hannah Douglass (PhD Candidate),  Centre for Psychedelic Research, Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College, London

Working in collaboration with:  Dr Kirsty Alderton and Dr Frederico Magalhaes who offered mental health support for these focus groups.

What did you do?

There is a current lack of effective treatments for anorexia nervosa (an eating disorder characterised by weight loss, difficulties maintaining weight, and often a preoccupation with one’s own body weight and shape). With fewer than half of those diagnosed with anorexia making a full recovery, there is a desperate need for new treatment avenues to be explored.

Refining research through public involvement: experiences of an early career researcher

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In conversation with: Dr Lisa Newington, Research Associate

Working in collaboration with Dr Caroline Alexander and Prof Mary Wells at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and Imperial Clinical Academic Training Office

What did you do?

I’m currently developing a project to explore the perceived impacts of participating in healthcare research. Specifically, research that is led by healthcare professionals from outside medicine. This includes nurses, midwives, allied health professionals (such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, dietitians, radiographers) and pharmacists.

Evolving patient involvement: How local support and online resources helped foster patient involvement and improve the robustness of our study results

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In conversation with: Emma Lidington, PROFILES Trial Manager

Working within/Team name: PROFILES Team, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, The NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research

The value of lived experience

Experts have recommended that academics should actively involve patients and the public in every phase of research to meaningfully incorporate the voice of those with lived experience. However, achieving this goal can seem daunting, particularly as an early career researcher. In our project, the level of patient involvement evolved over the course of the study, with the Public Involvement Research Hub and local funding from my institution as huge drivers of that change.

Getting involved in antibody testing studies: Stories from our public panel

To celebrate continued public involvement in research during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination asked organisations and research groups to share their stories. These will then be showcased as narrative Twitter threads @NIHRinvolvement channel from 13-17 July, alongside questions and polls, to encourage a week of discussion and learning around the public involvement during the outbreak.

We responded with two stories, one on how we first launched our COVID-19 community involvement activity, and the other on how we’ve involved the public in Imperial’s REACT study – a major programme of research seeking to improve our understanding of how COVID-19 is spreading across England.

‘What makes you feel alive?’ A patient’s question inspires art and science.

CRUK Senior Research Nurse, Kelly Gleason, shares how one patient’s vision continues to inspire her, and influence how we involve and engage the public in healthcare and research design at Imperial.

Sunday evening, November 14th 2014, we stood in the dark on Exhibition Road, staring through the large glass windows into the main entrance of Imperial College London. There stood twenty-four portraits, assembled as six pillars, ready to tell their story. A woman in a black dress sitting on an aluminium step stool wearing a carnival headdress, a man in leathers on a motorcycle, a toddler in her dad’s arms gesturing a story with her hands, these were the people keeping Rina Dave alive. 

A Midwife in the Pandemic

This World Health Day, Alison Perry shares her experiences as a research midwife returning to the front line of clinical care during the COVID-19 outbreak. #SupportNursesAndMidwives

My name is Alison and I’m the Lead Research Midwife and manager of the Women’s Health Research Centre at Imperial College. My work is at the intersection of health and science and COVID-19 has hit this space like a bolt.

I lead a team of research clinicians (including many midwives) and support a portfolio of clinical research related to reproductive health and childbirth.  Since the outbreak, most of that research is on hold.

Nursing in an epidemic: reflections on HIV nursing in the 1980s and the relevance for COVID-19 today

This World Health Day, Jane Bruton reflects on her time as an HIV nurse during the early years of the HIV pandemic, and shares observations relevant to the COVID-19 outbreak today. #SupportNursesAndMidwives

2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife and this year’s World Health Day (7 April 2020) celebrates the role that these professions play in keeping the world healthy. Both nurses and midwives are at the forefront of the COVID-19 response. And every day, as I read the experiences of nurses on the front line, it takes me back to my time on the ward.

In 1981, thirty-nine years ago, I qualified as a registered nurse in the UK.