“Inaugural prizes to acknowledge cancer pandemic response-NCRI Consumer Forum”
- The UK COVID Cancer Programme (UKCCP) was founded in March 2020 to monitor and safeguard cancer patients and is the longest running pandemic programme.
- To date over 250 individuals from 89 cancer centres have taken part, and demonstrated that cancer care should and must be prioritised during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In 2022, the UKCCP inaugurated their research excellence awards, given to individuals who had gone above and beyond in their contribution to safeguard and protect cancer patients during the pandemic.
The award was a nationally competitive process inviting proposals from across the United Kingdom and led by Leeds academic oncologists Dr James Platt and Dr Justin Liu.
Noting the incredible achievement of the NCRI Consumer forum, the UKCCP was delighted in giving the first award to Emma Kinloch, Malcolm Rhodes, Emily Lam, Gillian Murphy, Kate Robinson
Under their Consumer lead, Ms Emma Kinloch, they were critical in establish the clinical need for COVID research into cancer patients during the pandemic from 2020 until 2022. Her team provide agile leadership and direction to clinical researchers and were able to engage with the wider scientific community. This example of embedded patient involvement ultimately lead to the UKCCP convincingly demonstrating that chemotherapy should be continued during the coronavirus pandemic and lead to a resumption of cancer care globally in 2020.
Dr James Platt, research excellence award co-lead said “Many individuals have carried out excellent work into research into the effect of COVID-19 on cancer patients, I am delighted to give our initial award to the NCRI Consumer forum, who have shaped the national pandemic research response into cancer patients”
Dr Justin Liu said “We now know how to keep cancer patients safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, ongoing research and innovation is crucial for this. We intend to acknowledge the crucial work done by so many researchers in our field and others can be nominated here” (LINK- https://ukcovidcancerprogramme.org/2022/07/01/nominations-for-research-excellence-now-open/)
Dr Lennard YW Lee said, “Research closely aligned to patient priorities is crucial. The early and sustained patient and carer involvement from the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Consumer Forum in decision-making processes helped ensure the programme reached its maximum potential”.