North West England MRC Fellowships in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics

In a recent report from the Office for Life Sciences, Clinical Pharmacology was highlighted as
a specialty vital for healthcare and industry in the UK. Our proposed scheme builds upon a
highly successful training programme in Clinical Pharmacology, based at the University of
Liverpool. Our unique selling point is the collaboration between the Universities of Liverpool
and Manchester based on the existing MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science, and with 2
pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline) and 2 contract research
organisations (ICON and Medicines Evaluation Unit). We focus on important subject areas,
including paediatrics, where there is a fundamental need to improve drugs for children. The
scheme is designed to identify the best students, provide them with ?without walls? training
through attachments with our industry partners, together with excellent supervision and
mentoring arrangements, all of which enhance the student learning experience. Over 4
years, we will train 12 clinical fellows to undertake PhDs; each project will be tailored to the
individual and their clinical training. The Clinical Pharmacology skills base in the UK will be
enhanced by the scheme with benefit to healthcare, academia, industry, regulation and
ultimately undergraduate training.

The North West Clinical Pharmacology Training programme utilises the complementary
expertise of:
the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester building upon strengths in translational
research and;
Two major pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline) and 2
contract research organisations (ICON and Medicines Evaluation Unit) to provide a
highly integrated !?without walls!? training scheme.
The programme is based on an established Liverpool-Manchester collaboration, the MRC
Centre for Drug Safety Science, which provides the management framework. It is based
around the successful training programme which has been the hallmark of the Department of
Pharmacology and Therapeutics in Liverpool, where there is a seamless working relationship
between clinical and basic pharmacologists. The focus of the scheme will be on Stratified
Medicines and Drug Safety in the clinical areas of Paediatrics, Infectious Diseases and
Inflammation and Repair. Over a period of 4 years, we aim to train 12 clinical research
training fellows to undertake a doctoral thesis. The fellows. specific skills training will be
supplemented with generic and transferable skills training. We will implement a taught clinical
pharmacology programme in keeping with the curriculum approved by JRCPTB. Trainees will
interact closely with our industrial partners. Industrial placements will be developed in a
bespoke manner to suit the individual needs of the trainee and their project aims. The key to
the programme is its flexibility which will enhance the student experience. A two-stage
interview procedure will be implemented to ensure the selection of the best students and the
best projects consistent with the recruitment procedures utilised with the MRC. Academic
clinical fellows will form the main source for recruits. All trainees will be comprehensively
monitored, being supported by their supervisors, an advisory panel and mentor. Annual
showcase events will allow fellows to present their work, and interact with other students,
and key players from both Universities and external academics. We envisage, and will
actively promote, that on completion of the PhD, the trainees will move to lecturer posts. Our
partners have contributed 46% of the total cost of the programme which represents
significant added value. Our aim is to develop high-calibre clinician scientists of the future
with the ability to link bi-directionally between clinical and basic science, from molecule to
man, and from bench to bedside. Such individuals will have benefited from research
experience in the settings of academia and industry, and could thus function as future
research leaders in either sector.