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Chief Medical Officer to open National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Unit

Press release issued: 5 April 2011

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department of Health and the NHS, will open the National Institute for Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Unit in Cardiovascular Disease at the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) on Thursday 7 April.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department of Health and the NHS, will open the   National Institute for Health Research (NHIR) Bristol Biomedical Research Unit in Cardiovascular Disease at the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) on Thursday 7 April.

In 2008 University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol) and the University of Bristol were awarded funding from the NHIR to set up a Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit (BRU).

The NIHR aims to improve the health and wealth of the nation by creating a health research system in which the NHS supports outstanding individuals, working in world class facilities, conducting leading edge research focused on the needs of patients and the public. The NIHR has established Biomedical Research Units to undertake translational clinical research in priority areas of high disease burden and clinical need to further to enhance its ability to deliver on this overall goal. Each NIHR Biomedical Research Unit is a partnership between an NHS Trust and a university, enabling health researchers and clinicians to work together.

Professor Gianni Angelini, British Heart Foundation Chair of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Bristol and Co-Director of the Bristol Cardiovascular BRU, said: “The award of the NIHR BRU has created a state-of-the-art facility inspiring collaboration between scientists and clinicians to translate new research insights into benefits for patients. We can now perform internationally competitive research and at the same time, train the next generation of cardiovascular scientists and clinicians.”

Dr Peter Wilde, Head of the Division of Specialised Services at UH Bristol and Co-Director of the Bristol Cardiovascular BRU, said: “The NIHR initiative to support Biomedical Research Unit partnerships is a fantastic way of developing research capability in the NHS for the benefit of all our patients.”

Here in Bristol, the Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, situated in the BHI, is conducting research into heart disease. Studies are currently been conducted in a broad range of areas such as heart disease affecting children, research into stem cell and platelet function as well as imaging.

Further information

Translational research helps to move new findings from “bench to bedside” or from laboratory experiments through to clinical trials to actual point-of-contact patient applications. In other words, it is used to translate the findings obtained by basic research more quickly and efficiently into medical practice, thereby bridging the gap from discovery to delivery.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) provides the framework through which the research staff and research infrastructure of the NHS in England is positioned, maintained and managed as a national research facility. The NIHR provides the NHS with the support and infrastructure it needs to conduct first-class research funded by the Government and its partners alongside high-quality patient care, education and training. Its aim is to support outstanding individuals (both leaders and collaborators), working in world-class facilities (both NHS and university), conducting leading-edge research focused on the needs of patients.

Please contact joanne.fryer@bristol.ac.uk for further information.
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