The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Leeds Clinical Research Facility (CRF) is hosted by Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) in collaboration with the University of Leeds.
Leeds is England’s third largest city with a local population of ~760,000; the wider Leeds city region (population 2.95M) is a microcosm of the country in terms of diversity, geography and multi-morbidities. Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust provides regional and supra-regional services for ~5.4M people and recruited 17,438 patients into NIHR portfolio clinical trials in 2019-20 (6th nationally). The University of Leeds is a top 10 UK university in terms of its research power (Research Excellence Framework, 2014), and a top 100 world-ranked university (QS world rankings). Over 80% of Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust/University of Leeds collaborations are research rated “world leading” or “internationally excellent” (CWTS bibliometrics).
The NIHR Leeds CRF carries out high quality early stage and experimental clinical trials to help new treatments and tests reach patients more quickly. The NIHR Leeds CRF consists of the CRF Core Team (senior management and administrative staff) based at the Research and Innovation Centre St James’s Hospital and 5 integrated CRF Sites across a single Trust, providing 38 treatment beds/chairs and 10 outpatient rooms for patients with a spectrum of diseases and across age groups.
Core funding from the NIHR supports trial delivery across all of the NIHR Leeds CRF sites; we also work with industry, research councils and charities to run over 100 early stage, experimental or complex clinical trials at any one time.
We provide a welcoming, professional and safe environment for patients taking part in our trials, fully supported by clinical services within Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust including world class imaging, pathology, radiotherapy and informatics/artificial intelligence.
- Patients and the wider public play a key role in our research, not only as participants, but also helping us in shaping the direction of our work and in the design of research initiated in Leeds. We have particular expertise and a strong track-record in the following areas:
Cardiovascular research: heart failure and coronary disease,
Musculoskeletal research: conditions such as arthritis and rheumatism,
Oncology research: cancers that involve solid tumour,
Haematology research: including cancers of the blood,
Oral & Dental: full range of research within oral and dental health,
Paediatrics: treats a comprehensive range of illnesses including Cardiovascular disease.
All 5 CRF Sites are co-located with world-class clinical services, world-class University of Leeds laboratories and have sample collection/ processing/storage capabilities. Each CRF primarily supports trials in clinical specialities delivered on that site. The CRF provides outreach support where studies can only be delivered in an NHS clinical setting.
We conduct trials of
- Novel drugs, medicines and vaccines
- Cell based and viral therapies
- Innovative technologies and devices