Trophy haul for medical researchers

Research staff at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust won big at the Greater Manchester Clinical Research Awards 2015, claiming two first places and two runner-up awards.

Dr Andrew Ustianowski, infectious diseases consultant at the Trust, was named Investigator of the Year, while the research team at Fairfield General Hospital won Research Team of the Year.

Dr Zoe Borrill, consultant in respiratory medicine, was runner-in up in the Investigator of the Year category and Joanne Shaw, diabetes research nurse, and Gina North, clinical trials administrator, were runners-up for the Best Research Debut award.

The event, held in Manchester city centre, recognised the efforts of the region’s research staff across 15 categories.

Steve Woby, director of research and development at the Trust said: “This is a prestigious event attended by leading academics, industry partners and representatives from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN).

“It was a great evening and as a Trust we did extremely well. We were overall winner in two categories and runner-up in two others. This is a fantastic achievement and highlights our continued commitment to supporting high-quality research at the Trust.”

Dr Ustianowski has supported clinical trials at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust for approximately 10 years and has been an instrumental figure in providing research leadership within infectious disease research.

Over the past five years he has supported over 60 NIHR CRN studies, with 39 of these being industry sponsored studies.

The Research Team at Fairfield General Hospital’s nomination highlighted the team’s ability to work flexibly at three different hospitals and they were praised for the number of disease specialities it covers, including respiratory medicine, surgery, the emergency department, gastroenterology, ICU, and rheumatology.

The team has successfully increased commercial studies by over 100 per cent and has become a “first choice” destination to place research in the fields of respiratory medicine and inflammatory bowel disease.

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust manages The Royal Oldham Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary and community services.