Clinical Trials Unit
The Mental Health and Neuroscience Clinical Trials Unit (MH&N CTU) helps research teams throughout the country carry out clinical trials safely and to a high scientific standard, and offers a range of services to help ensure the results are accurate and credible.
The Unit’s services are available to researchers based both locally at the IoP and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), and across the UK. It is the only Clinical Trials Unit in the country focussing predominantly on mental health.
The MH&N CTU offers a competitively priced Independent Randomisation Service; an Online Data Capture and Management Service; a Trial Statistician Service; Trial Management and Data Management support.
The Independent Randomisation Service ensures reliability and credibility in the randomisation process: the MH&N CTU sets up and manages a database, purpose-designed for each individual trial, after being briefed by the research team and trial statistician.
The Online Data Capture and Management Service uses MACRO, a programme designed by InferMed (www.infermed.com/) to set up and test a database tailored to the data capture needs of an individual trial – from single site small projects to large, complex multi-site international trials with multiple treatments and multiple arms. The Service includes the creation of purpose-designed eCRFs (case report forms) that enable participating centres to enter their data securely online, and offers different access rights (data entry or monitoring, for example) and query facilities for trial managers. The system is easy to use, easy to monitor and easy to archive, and gives trial statisticians confidence in the accuracy of the data collected and control of the database lock procedure.
To find out more about these services, contact the MH&N CTU (details below or on the Contact us page).
The Unit works closely with the IoP/SLaM Research and Development (R & D) Office, the Joint Clinical Trials Office (JCTO) and with the UK Mental Health Research Network, funded by the Department of Health, managed by the IoP and the University of Manchester, and set up to support large scale research in mental health, including clinical trials.
Work with the IoP/SLaM R & D Office includes making sure trials are being conducted according to Good Clinical Practice, and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of participants in King’s College London sponsored trials are protected.
The MH&N CTU is led by Dr S Landau, Head of Biostatistics.
Ms CL Murphy is the Unit Manager. A qualified nurse, she specialised in neuroscience and palliative care before working as a research nurse and trial manager on a number of both commercial and academic led projects.
The MH&N CTU is part of the Department of Biostatistics.
Mental Health and Neuroscience Clinical Trials Unit, PO64
Institute of Psychiatry
De Crespigny Park
London SE5 8AF
Contact: Caroline Murphy
Email: Caroline.Murphy@kcl.ac.uk
Phone: 020 7848 0532
Fax: 020 7848 5229