Europe’s largest academic health research partnership created
pharmafile | August 21, 2008 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |Â Â hcÂ
Five British medical research centres and hospitals have come together to create a new academic health science partnership, the largest of its kind in Europe.
UCL Partners will be based in London and pool its combined resources and the expertise of over 3,500 scientists, senior researchers and consultants.
The five centres involved are: University College London, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
They join UCL (University College London), one of the world's top universities and highest rated UK university for health research.
The partnership will become operational from September and will focus initially on ten areas of research, including cancer, the nervous system, heart disease, immunology and children's health.
Malcolm Grant, president of UCL said the partnership was a landmark for UK medical research.
"The combined skill, expertise and knowledge of our five organisations promise to deliver to patients the benefits of cutting edge research at its best as quickly as possible.
"We have chosen to concentrate on these areas of research because in all of them we are already leading the way in the UK or Europe. Our goal is to build on that reputation and become genuinely world-class in as many of those areas as possible."
Between them, the hospitals involved treat over 1.5 million patients every year and the creation of UCL Partners will build on their existing links to medical research.
Professor Sir Cyril Chantler, chairman of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, said this sort of academic health centre has already been shown to improve the transfer of innovation into practice.
"London needs to strive to lead in health, a world class city should settle for nothing less. UCL Partners has the capacity and potential to work together to make this happen."
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