Cluster A
Head of Cluster: Jacqueline Mathews jacqueline.mathews@nihr.ac.uk
Cluster A Manager: Karina Mahiouz karina.mahiouz@nihr.ac.uk
Cluster A Administrator: Barbora Houskova barbora.houskova@nihr.ac.uk
Cluster A Administrator: Tobias Robins-McGee tobias.robins-mcgee@nihr.ac.uk
Cluster A Administrator: Ioana Brehuescu ioana.brehuescu@nihr.ac.uk
Cardiovascular Disease | Diabetes | Gastroenterology | Hepatology | Metabolic & Endocrine Disorders | Renal Disorders | Respiratory Disorders | Stroke
Please use the following links for accessible versions of the information presented in the drawings below:
National Specialty Group Meeting Papers
Please click on the hyperlinks below to access the folders with agendas and minutes for the respective specialty.
Areas of Innovation
Drawing on the strengths of Imperial College in the development of Medical Technology, Metabolic Phenotyping and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP), we will be leading initiatives to define the workforce, infrastructure and processes needed for the successful delivery of clinical studies of this nature across the CRN. Visit our ETI pages to find out more.
Specialty Projects and Initiatives
As part of the Medical Directorate, Specialty Cluster A support a number of activities in key priority areas including supporting the development of specialty commercial research portfolios, workforce capacity building and supporting those new to research, Specialty Champions .
Specialty Cluster A work with specialty stakeholders and colleagues across the NIHR to deliver a number of specialty and pan-NIHR initiatives including collaboration and engagement with Life Science companies.
Nutrition
There is a deficit in the nutritional research activity on the NIHR portfolio as well as being underrepresented in funding calls. This applies not only to disease-specific areas such as IBD, coeliac disease and IBS, but also to nutritional support and obesity.
We would like to pull together a small sub-group of key experts and representatives from complementary speciatiles to identify if there is any appetite to plan and run a cross-specialty, cross-disciplinary workshop focusing on the overarching question of 'What do we need to do to increase the volume of, and capacity and capability for, nutritional research?'.
Cross NIHR Initiatives
Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI)
A cross, speciality, cross NIHR, and organisational project to develop a platform approaches to support studies ARI across the UK, bridging primary and secondary care.
Joint Cluster A& E MLTC-M and Liver disease related to alcohol and obesity projects
A cross-specialty, cross-NIHR, cross-institution project to review how we can better develop and deliver studies relating to the multiple causes of liver disease, specifically focusing on alcohol and obesity.
CRN Wide Projects and Initiatives
Volunteers
Aiming to engage with the volunteer workforce to assist with various tasks to enable the delivery of clinical research studies.
Cross Directorate Working
Project piloting a new whole systems approach between the Medical, Business Development and Marketing, and Research Delivery Directorates for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Respiratory to facilitate a more collaborative working to support effective Strategic Portfolio Oversight and Portfolio Development.