“An amazing team effort” – Cambridge children’s research team wins prestigious award
A paediatric gastroenterology research team based at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) has been recognised nationally for their enormous contribution to children’s research.
The team have been awarded the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) – National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Paediatric Involvement and Engagement in Research (PIER) Award.
The PIER Award recognises excellent patient engagement and significant contributions to the NIHR Clinical Research Network.
It is awarded to research active paediatricians and multidisciplinary research teams who have made an outstanding contribution to involve paediatric patients and their families in the development and delivery of research.
As the main regional referral centre for children with gut disease in the East of England, the paediatric gastroenterology team at CUH have continued to build their translational research portfolio around their patient population.
The team’s application for the award was based on their research programme TRIPP (Translational Research in Intestinal Physiology and Pathology), to which they have recruited more than 1000 children over a ten year period.
As part of this study, children and their parents give consent to provide small intestinal tissue samples and a few drops of blood to be used for research purposes.
The average recruitment rate is 90% of children and the team have obtained thousands of tissue and blood samples, with results of analyses having led to numerous scientific publications.
At the heart of this lies a research newsletter called ‘Under the Microscope’, which contains contributions from doctors, scientists and patients.
The team have also been recognised for their major contribution in the production of ‘IBDmate’, a comprehensive learning platform with over 250 hours of lessons and videos created by staff, patients and families that is available for ‘prescription’ and subsequent use at any time.
The team have been commended for their emphasis on patient and family education, with better understanding leading to better engagement, increased involvement in research and ultimately better clinical outcomes.
Dr Matthias Zilbauer, Principal Investigator of the TRIPP study and Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Gastroenterology, said:
“We are extremely proud of receiving this award as it provides recognition for our research work, and the achievements on which this award is based were only possible through an amazing team effort.
“The key to our success is the commitment of all team members, including physicians, scientists and nurses, as well as our patients and their families.
“Special recognition goes to our amazing research nurse Claire Glemas, who has not only recruited 1000 children to our translational research studies, but has also successfully established a thriving, innovative parent/patient engagement programme working with Jen Rose, author of the IBD Colouring Journal and one of our parent/patient representatives.
“We never cease to be amazed when one of our young patients agrees to support our research, which although not of any direct benefit to them, may help other children in the future.”
The team were presented with their award at the RCPCH Annual Conference in Scotland on Wednesday 24 May.
(Pictured left to right) Federica Giachero, Mattias Zilbauer, Francesca Perrone, Claire Glemas, Komal Nayak.
