Training opportunity_British Association for the Study of the Liver

Dear Trainee,                                                                                                                          24th May 2014

We are writing to invite you to an exciting educational opportunity which is free to attend. We are organising a training workshop for trainees who are part of the NIHR Infrastructure, BASL or the BSG.

Theme – ‘Fibrosis from Theory to Practice: An Exploration of the Challenge of Developing Anti-Fibrotic Therapy for Liver Disease and how we may Approach Addressing it’.

Location – Gateshead Hilton

Date – Sunday 14^th September (immediately before BASL Annual Meeting in Newcastle, 15-17th Sept)

 The programme for the meeting is at the end of this invitation. We envisage a full day of lectures and discussion followed by a course dinner for delegates and faculty.

Free overnight accommodation on Sunday 14th September will be available for those who require it.

For trainees attending this meeting who also wish to attend the BASL Annual Meeting 2014, registration for this event will also be included.

Places are limited and will be offered on a first come first served basis.

This will be an innovative and multi-disciplinary one day education meeting for trainees to explore:

• The theory of anti-fibrotic therapy for use in chronic liver disease linking basic science discovery with approaches for therapeutic development
• Approaches to evolving theoretical science into novel pharmaceutical agents
• Approaches to evaluating the efficacy of such agents in practice (touching on end-points for trials and novel modalities to assess degree of fibrosis applicable both in the trials setting and potentially in clinical practice)
• Challenges and potential solutions for implementation of those therapies in practice (who would prescribe to which patients in what care delivery framework).

The concept of the meeting is to take theoretical science through translation into implementation in clinical practice. The faculty are drawn from key investigators from relevant areas, with a significant industry and industry-engaged component.

We anticipate that this workshop will give a unique insight into the challenges and opportunities in this area, and provide a forum in which to bring together clinical and academic collaborators to discuss future opportunity. We very much hope that you will be able to join us.

Event booking is live now on the website: http://www.basl.org.uk/events/122/NIHR-InfrastructureBASL-Training-Workshop-2014/index.cfm

 

NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Research Fellowship Scheme

Invitation to Apply for a Round 3 NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Research Fellowship

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is pleased to announce the launch of a further round of the NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Research (KMR) Fellowship Scheme. This scheme, managed by the NIHR Trainees Coordinating Centre, supports Fellows to undertake a balance of innovative knowledge mobilisation and research into the processes and impacts of such innovation. Through innovative practice and systematic study of that practice, KMR Fellows should advance knowledge and understanding of research use, influence and impact.

KMR Fellowships are personal awards and will fund a Fellow’s salary costs, research costs and a personalised training and development programme.

Further information, full eligibility criteria and instructions for applicants are available on the website of the NIHR Trainees Coordinating Centre at http://www.nihrtcc.nhs.uk/kmrf .

Applications must be submitted to the NIHR TCC by 1.00 pm on 14th August 2014.

Prof Kate Gerrish is a member of the NIHR panel reviewing applications and would be happy to advise anyone interested in applying from across CLAHRC YH

PPI_Involve Publication

For your information the NIHR website launched a new INVOLVE publication – NIHR Senior Investigators: Leaders for public involvement in research, with five senior researchers give an account of how and why they involve patients and the public in their work.

Contributions are from:

Dr John Bradley, Director, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre

Professor David Gunnell, Professor of Epidemiology, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol

Professor Elaine Hay, Director, Institute of Primary Care and Health Sciences Centre, Keele University

Professor Hywel Williams, Professor of Dermato-Epidemiology and Director, Centre of Evidence-Based Dermatology, University of Nottingham and

Professor Sue Ziebland, Director, Health Experiences Group, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Services University of Oxford

The publication has a foreword by Professor Dame Sally C. Davies FRS FMedSci, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser, Department of Health and an introduction from Simon Denegri, Chair of INVOLVE and NIHR National Director for Public Participation and Engagement in Research.

This was an NIHR-wide project funded by INVOLVE, working with the NIHR Faculty and NIHR Central Commissioning Facility.”

MHRA guidance on medical device stand-alone software

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued guidance for healthcare and medical software developers who are unsure of the regulatory requirements for CE marking stand-alone software as a medical device.

This guidance:

• outlines the current regulatory position
• explains what defines a medical device
• helps with decisions on whether your stand-alone software or app is a medical device and gives examples
• gives information about the rules on classification of medical devices and how to meet the regulations
• provides links to other useful websites and relevant documents.

This guidance is aimed at healthcare workers and device manufacturers, and explains how this technology is regulated.

It covers stand-alone software (also known as software as a medical device) but not software that is part of an existing medical device because this is seen to be part of the device, e.g. software that controls a CT scanner.

View the MHRA’s guidance here.

Best wishes,
Dr Karla Duarte
Infrastructure Team Leader
NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure (NOCRI)
www.nocri.nihr.ac.uk
NOCRI twitter

Yorkshire Health Study in NIHR New media competition

The Yorkshire Health Study has entered the NIHR New Media Competition:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7N0D2Uw2l0wa5nFgtc1vAp13AaRvglen

The competition is aimed at:

• Communicate the clinical/applied health/social care research that you are involved in
• Enthuse audiences about the research that you are involved in (the target audience may be for example patients, researchers, colleagues, your friends and family, children, the elderly, the general public)
• Get creative and use your media skills to get the NIHR message about research out.
• Win prizes