The Team
Senior management
Professor Peter Clayton, Director (peter.clayton@manchester.ac.uk)
Peter Clayton is a Professor of Child Health & Paediatric Endocrinology at The University of Manchester and also an Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. He has over 20 years of paediatric research experience including leading international multi-centred trials investigating growth hormone. Peter leads the network as Director and has overall responsibility for its development and activities .
Dr Nick Webb, Deputy Director (nicholas.webb@cmft.nhs.uk)
Prof. Clayton is assisted by Deputy Director Dr Nick Webb, a Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Nick has a specialist interest in paediatric renal disease and kidney transplant clinical trials and is a member of an MCRN Clinical Study Group.
Sarah Rickard, Network Manager (sarah.rickard@cmft.nhs.uk)
GMLC is managed by Sarah Rickard, an experienced R&D Manager and former research geneticist. Sarah manages the network team in their day to day activities, develops and implements strategy, and ensures that the aims and targets of the network are met.
Helena Prady, Senior Research Nurse (helena.prady@cmft.nhs.uk)
Helena is one of two Senior Research Nurses in the GMLC team. Prior to working for the network, she was a research nurse in metabolic disease for five years, and has many years experience as a paediatric nurse. In her current role, she is responsible for line managing half the nursing team and also leads on training and education.
June Green, Senior Research Nurse (june.green@cmft.nhs.uk)
June is also a Senior Research Nurse and works with Helena to provide management support for the nursing team. She has been involved with commercial clinical research since 2001, working in phase 1 clinical trials with healthy volunteers and managing clinical staff in a wide variety of commercial studies. She is a Registered General Nurse and (non-practising) Midwife. June also line manages GMLC nurses, as well as our Trial Practitioner, and leads on involving children and families in MCRN research activities.
Research nurses
GMLC has a small complement of Research Nurses who provide administrative and clinical support for MCRN studies. Each nurse is assigned hospitals in the region to specifically provide support for, and each also leads on one or more specialties within the tertiary centre in Manchester.
Anne Cook (anne.cook2@cmft.nhs.uk)
Anne is a state registered nurse and a sick children’s nurse with a background in neonates. She has been conducting Phase 1 clinical trials in healthy volunteers for a large pharmaceutical company since 1998. Anne will be supporting research at Wythenshawe Hospital.
Melanie Farman (melanie.farman@lthtr.nhs.uk)
Melanie is a paediatric nurse with experience of working in the Young Oncology Unit at The Christie in Manchester and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Royal Blackburn Hospital. She is based in Preston, supporting MCRN research in Blackburn, Preston, Morecambe Bay, Blackpool and Burnley.
.jpg)
Claire Fish (claire.fish@cmft.nhs.uk)
Claire is a registered children’s nurse who has 6 years experience in the paediatric peri-operative care setting, specialising in anaesthetics and recovery. She also has experience of paediatric acute pain. Claire has recently joined the network and will be providing support to Tameside General Hospital
Fiona Heap (fiona.heap@cmft.nhs.uk)
Fiona is our neonatal specialist nurse, who also has experience of managing metabolic clinical trials. Fiona provides expertise for our neonatology portfolio of studies and will be the AdDIT trial nurse from early 2009.
Jane Howell (jane.howell@cmft.nhs.uk)
Jane is a Registered General Nurse who has worked for many years in the community as a School Health Advisor in both Primary and High Schools. Jane has recently joined the team and will be supporting the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Hospital NHS Trust.
Jacqueline Kelly (jacqueline.kelly@cmft.nhs.uk)
Jackie is a state registered and sick children’s nurse. She worked as a school nurse in Salford and for the past few years has been a visiting primary school nurse in Australia. She will be working at Salford Royal Hospital and Pendleton Gateway.
Heather Rostron (heather.rostron@cmft.nhs.uk)
Heather was a general paediatric nurse and supports Royal Oldham Hospital and Rochdale Infirmary (both part of Pennine Acute NHS Trust). She supports both respiratory and neurological disease studies in the tertiary centre.
Ann McGovern, Trial Practitioner (ann.mcgovern@cmft.nhs.uk)
Ann has a unique post within GMLC, as she is mainly funded by the British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes (BSPED). Her role is to support BSPED studies, most of which are adopted by the MCRN and run locally by the Royal Manchester Children Hospital Endocrinology Department team. Ann comes from a science background and has worked in clinical research for many years, essentially performing the role of a research nurse. She currently works part time for the network, whilst retaining a part time post managing an adult orthopaedic trial at Salford Royal Hospital.
Jessica Nichols (jessica.nichols@cmft.nhs.uk)
Jessica has 15 years experience in cardiothoracic nursing at the Manchester Heart Centre and has been working in the high dependency setting for a number of years. She also has experience in working with children in the voluntary sector. Jessica will be supporting research at the Royal Bolton Hospital.
Annya Sekula (anna.sekula@cmft.nhs.uk)
Annya trained in Poland and is a Registered General Adult Nurse. Since 2006, she conducted phase I clinical trials involving both patients and healthy volunteers for a contract research organisation in Manchester. Annya has recently joined the network and will be providing support to Fairfield General Hospital and North Manchester General Hospital in the Pennine Acute Hospital Trust, as well as Tameside General Hospital.
Jacqueline Woods (Jacqueline.woods@lthtr.nhs.uk)
Jacqueline is a paediatric nurse with experience working on a respiratory medical ward at Royal Liverpool Children’s NHS Trust and the Accident & Emergency Department at Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre NHS Trust. She is based in Preston, supporting MCRN research in Blackburn, Preston, Morecambe Bay, Blackpool and Burnley.
Other staff
Sarah Ashton (Sarah.ashton@cmft.nhs.uk)
Sarah is the Clinical Trials Coordinator for the network and her main role is to provide support for the set up and approval of studies. Prior to joining, Sarah worked at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust for four years; firstly as Clinical Trials Administrator for the haematology research team, and then as Clinical Trials Coordinator for the breast cancer research team.
Laura Crowther (laura.crowther@cmft.nhs.uk)
Laura is a Research Administrator the Medicines for Children Research Network. This is Laura’s first job within the NHS after graduating from Durham University in 2007. Laura previously worked for Manchester City Council in the Coroner's Office.
Liz Hallett, Secretary (gmlc.secretary@cmft.nhs.uk)
Liz provides vital administrative support for the network in her role as Secretary. She previously worked as a Spa Coordinator at a hotel, and is an experienced administrator. Liz ensures that the network runs smoothly and is the first point of contact for most enquiries.
.jpg)
Joanne Glossop, User Involvement Co-ordinator (joanne.glossop@cmft.nhs.uk)
Joanne is the User Involvement Co-ordinator for the Medicines for Children Research Network. Prior to joining the MCRN, Joanne worked for Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust after graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2007.
.jpg)
Gemma Whiteley, Project Co-ordinator (gemma.whiteley@cmft.nhs.uk)