International Clinical Trials Day events – Tuesday 19 May

Our research team and the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College London are celebrating International Clinical Trials Day on Tuesday 19 May.

There will be public events in the atrium at Evelina London Children's Hospital from 10.30am-3.30pm, and in the Birdsong corridor and main entrance at St Thomas’ Hospital and Atrium 2 at Guy’s Hospital from 10am-4pm.

The event at Evelina London is a chance for you to learn more about the research being carried out across our services. It will include posters, games and prizes, and a 'design your own medicine' competition.

The events at St Thomas’ will include an inflatable imitation MRI scanner and science demonstrations from the Department of Twin Research at King’s College London. The event at Guy’s will include interactive quizzes on rare diseases and a stem cell table board game. 

The day is being run in partnership with the ‘Ok to Ask’ campaign which encourages patients and carers to ask their doctor about NHS research they can take part in, particularly if they have a medical condition they are receiving treatment for.

Professor Charles Wolfe, Director of Research and Development at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Professor of Public Health at King’s College London, says: "We are fully committed to clinical research. Recruitment figures for our studies have doubled over the last five years but less than 21% of patients feel confident to ask their doctor if they can take part in research.

“The 'OK to Ask' campaign encourages patients to ask about research, and clinical staff to talk to researchers, which can only lead to better and faster clinical research.”

In the last year more than 600,000 people in the UK volunteered to take part in a clinical trial or study. International Clinical Trials Day is an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of research in healthcare.