During the last 12 months, Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility (OH CRF) has opened its doors to facilitate media filming for local and national news outlets, highlighting a selection of of the mental health studies running at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (OHFT), that the Facility supports.
In June, ITV Meridian filmed University of Oxford’s Professor Mike Browning at OH CRF, in an interview about how a drug commonly prescribed to people with Parkinson’s disease was found to be an effective treatment for treatment resistant depression.
In the largest clinical trial to date, pramipexole was found to be substantially more effective than a placebo at reducing the symptoms of treatment resistant depression (TRD) over the course of nearly a year, when added to ongoing antidepressant medication.
Phil Harvey, 72, from Oxfordshire, was a participant in the PAX-D study and was interviewed as part of the piece by ITV Meridian at OH CRF. Phil was diagnosed with depression 20 years ago and tried different tablets and counselling, but nothing worked. He started on the trial at Warneford in 2022.
Watch the ITV Meridian news segment about PAX-D on their website.
In May, OH CRF colleagues gave an interview with That’s TV Oxfordshire about their plans for the then upcoming Health Research Showcase, an annual event held at Oxford’s Westgate Centre for the public to learn more about the city’s healthcare research.
Dr Katharine Smith, OHFT Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, along with Angela Conlan, OH CRF Public and Patient Involvement, Engagement and Participation Lead and Samuel Agyapong, OH CRF Clinical Research Nurse shared their plans on engaging the public in the Trust’s research during the showcase event.
These interviews can be watched on That’s TV Oxfordshire’s Facebook account in 3 videos: Dr Smith’s interview, Angela Conlan’s interview and Samuel Agyapong’s interview.
In January, Professor Vanessa Raymont, Director of Research and Development at OHFT, spoke to journalists at OH CRF from Sky News and The Times about the READ-OUT dementia study.
READ-OUT, a country-wide trial aiming to revolutionise how dementia is diagnosed using blood tests is now underway, in a bid to improve the UK’s diagnosis rate. The READ-OUT team welcomed its first participants into the study in January.
Study participant Stephanie Everill, from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, was also interviewed about her decision to take part in the study.
Read The Times article (subscription needed) and the Sky News coverage on their websites or watch the Sky News coverage on YouTube.
Professor Raymont had previously spoken with the BBC about the study.
In May last year, Professor Andrea Cipriani, Director of OH CRF and NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre Data Science Theme Co-Lead was interviewed at OH CRF by the BBC, discussing a new evidence-based AI treatment tool to personalise antidepressant treatment.
The treatment tool, called PETRUSHKA, is an AI algorithm – informed by data from more than a million people – which recommends in real-time the best antidepressants for individuals, during the standard care consultation.
Read more about PETRUSHKA in the OH CRF News article.
Amanda Colston, OH CRF Matron said: “We are always delighted to welcome media teams to the OH CRF. We are proud to be able to offer a unique filming environment, with access to real research spaces including eight examination rooms, two of which have been specially designed for overnight sleep studies.
“We also have a beautiful private garden and a newly fitted laboratory. These settings not only showcase the breadth of clinical research taking place but also help bring the human stories behind the science to life.”
To learn more about OH CRF visit the website or email the team:[email protected]