State of the Facility Wins Innovation Award
A state of the art facility supporting clinical trials and research into childhood diseases, has won the Medipex ‘Innovator of the Quarter’ award, for its driving force - Dr Jim Bonham.
The Paediatric Clinical Research Facility, based at the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (SCH), is the first of its kind in the UK, and is supported by both the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity and the University of Sheffield.
Comprising of five rooms and a three-bed day unit, the facility will allow doctors and other health professionals to carry out research in a dedicated, fully resourced space, providing the infrastructure to progress high quality paediatric research in Sheffield.
Dr Bonham, Research and Development Director at SCH, together with Prof Nick Bishop from the University of Sheffield have pushed forward plans for the facility for nearly a decade, since they saw a need to change the way research was conducted and managed.
“Our aim was to develop a dedicated paediatric clinical research facility, a safe environment in which parents and children would be invited to come and have a look around and participate in these trials, so that the use of paediatric medicines could be optimised,” said Dr Bonham.
Medipex is the NHS innovation hub for Yorkshire and Humber. Their ‘Innovation of the Quarter’ award provides NHS employees from across the Yorkshire and Humber region with an opportunity to gain recognition for their ideas.
Dr Derek Burke, Medical Director at SCH nominated Dr Bonham for the award. “Jim Bonham’s vision for the future of paediatric research will undoubtedly enable us to contribute significantly to the overall national and local research strategy and continue to help develop innovative and pioneering treatments for children,” said Dr Burke.
Dr Bonham said: “It’s so encouraging to win this award. It’s taken a long time to plan this, and to see it here as a reality has given an enormous sense of satisfaction. I’m sure our researchers and industry partners will put this to good use to benefit the lives of the families and children of the region. We can be justifiably proud and grateful for this marvellous opportunity.”
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