Meet the research team at BRHC Our hospital research team is dedicated and hugely talented. They’ve participated in hundreds of trials and even played a part in developing the Meningitis B vaccine which is now used globally. But they want to do so much more. Here are some of the team members at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children sharing their thoughts on why we need a clinical research facility and the difference the South West Children's Research Appeal will make. Natalie Fineman Lead Nurse for Research "We see research projects and pilots come up that we would love to try here in Bristol, but we just don’t have the infrastructure in place."As NHS staff members, we don’t want any child to miss out on a research trial that could change their life." Professor A.V.Ramanan Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist BRHC, Professor of Paediatric Rheumatology, University of Bristol "The clinical research facility (CRF) would enable to us participate in trials which can be life transforming and potentially curative, like gene therapy studies. "Due to the lack of a CRF, Bristol has not been a site for cutting-edge treatments for rare paediatric diseases. This has meant either children having to travel, or often missing out on novel therapies for rare conditions." Karen Coy Research Nurse "We want to be able to offer the full range of clinical trials that our children deserve. If we can’t offer them, then their choices are they can’t have access to those medications or they have to travel far from home. "For our children in Cornwall, they’re already facing a three-hour drive to Bristol. You can’t expect families to go to Liverpool every few days for however many weeks and have any hope of keeping a school routine or for it not to have a serious effect on the family mentally and financially. "It’s hard enough for our more local families to be separated from each other for periods of time. To make that decision for your child of ‘shall we try and get this treatment that’s going to improve their clinical outcomes or actually is it quite important that they just have some family life’ is a decision no family should have to make. It’s really hard.” MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR SOUTH WESTCHILDREN'S RESEARCH APPEAL Manage Cookie Preferences