Many of the researchers we support are also clinicians, providing direct care to patients and the public, alongside their academic work.
Given the scale of the national and global challenge of COVID-19 (coronavirus), BRC-funded clinical and research professionals who are working on topics other than COVID-19, or those with relevant skills, are being asked to prioritise frontline care where possible. This is in line with the national guidance from the NIHR.
This will mean that many BRC-supported research studies may need to be paused, to free up staff to help bolster the frontline response to COVID-19. Other studies may need to be temporarily halted for public health reasons.
However, clinical trials or other research studies should continue if halting them would have significant detrimental effects on the ongoing care of participants. These clinical decisions will be taken locally on a case-by-case basis.
We would like to thank our researchers and support staff for all their hard work during this challenging time.
Across our BRC community, we are conducting meetings remotely and we have cancelled or postponed events that we had planned for the coming weeks. We will endeavour to reschedule these for later in the year.
As one of the leading healthcare research centres in the country, we are stepping up our research into COVID-19, whether that is the development of treatments for those with the virus, or of an effective vaccine. This is being done in close partnership with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford, as well as other partners in the regional academic healthcare research environment.