Friday 16 November 2012

An insight into the Research Advisory Committee

Dr Janet Allen, the CF Trust's Director of Research, provides an update  following the Trust's biannual research meeting.

This week I attended my first Cystic Fibrosis Trust Research Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting. This was a special meeting because we wanted to consult with RAC expert members and ask them to contribute to our early thinking on the new research strategy, due to be launched at the end of April 2013. 

As this was a special meeting we invited Professor Danny Altmann from the Wellcome Trust to start the event. Professor Altmann spoke about the different ways that research can help improve the lives of people living with cystic fibrosis. 

Members of the Committee were then split into three groups and challenged to provide innovative comments to two challenging research questions. I stayed up until 5am to collate all these ideas! I used them as the starting point for a more formal discussion the next day. We also shared with the RAC some of the early thinking on the research strategy that we have developed within the CF Trust and had some very useful and constructive feedback.

This was an excellent meeting and the members of RAC, led by Professor Elborn, worked hard together with senior members of the CF Trust (Ed Owen, CEO, and George Jenkins, Chairman) to provide me with some inspiration as I develop the strategy. 

What is really encouraging is the value placed on the RAC’s contribution to the research strategy. We had a “full house” for these discussions and the senior team at the CF Trust were present throughout.  
 

Watch this space for further information about the exciting developments in CF research.

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