In November 2019, Patrick Chinnery approached me and Iain McInnes about his vision for a new funding panel within the Medical Research Council (MRC) portfolio called, Experimental Medicine. He asked whether we would act as chair and deputy chair respectively.
A vision for true experimental medicine
Patrick’s vision for the panel is that it funds research projects where the main question would be tested in patients, so essentially hypothesis testing clinical trials, true experimental medicine. As we worked with the MRC team on how this remit would work, we felt that there should not be a funding window. Instead, applicants should ask for the appropriate funding to deliver their project. This means we see a range of funding requests from smaller studies for a few hundred thousand, to studies with an ask greater than £1 million or more.
What has been central in all projects funded is that there must be a mechanistic hypothesis, and that most of the funding supports work in the clinic. Some limited critical preclinical work to inform the trial is considered in remit, but not biobanking (storage of biological samples) or testing sample collections.
As you will have picked up from the timing, we set about establishing a new panel when the pandemic struck, so our first 18 months of meetings were online. Given these challenging times it is a testament to the dedication of the research community and our panel members that a new scheme was developed and funded high quality proposals.
I am reminded of that first panel meeting sitting in the library where I am writing this blog post now. We had so many stage one applications to review that the MRC team gave us only eight minutes per application to discuss the pre-panel reviews submitted and make a decision. One of my weaknesses is an obsession with sticking to time, however eight-minute blocks challenged even my timekeeping. I suspect I moaned so much that I was given an easier time period subsequently.
Reflecting on success
Reflecting on the five years I chaired the panel, the first thing to say is it has been great fun and really interesting. I have met colleagues, and now I hope friends, from other medical disciplines I would otherwise not have come across and learnt so much about other areas of medicine. We have put the world to rights over early breakfasts and panel dinners. And we have managed to make decisions and keep to time in the panel meetings, perhaps with a little cajoling sometimes needed.
Like all MRC panels we now have more highly scored fundable applications than there is budget available. This I see as a success as it reflects the engagement and enthusiasm of the research community. I hope it also reflects the benefits of our two stages application process, where the panel aims to support applicants via feedback on stage one applications to submit stronger stage two applications. Thus, using the diverse expertise of the panel to help strengthen the proposal.
I had got to know Iain when we were both members of the MRC-National Institute for Health and Care Research Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Funding Committee. The committee was chaired so ably at the time by John Norrie. His mantra to the committee was that we should aim to be a funding not a non-funding committee. This was something I took to the MRC Experimental Medicine Panel in terms of making the stage one supportive of getting good proposals over the line. I guess for applicants this has meant “ignore the feedback at your peril!”
Supporting the next generation
One important element in our national research structure where I feel the Experimental Medicine Panel can and should play a role is in supporting the next generation of clinical academics. We actively encourage applicants to involve a junior project lead as a co-applicant. Additionally, the panel supports the observer and associate members schemes run by MRC. As highlighted in the MRC report calling for actions to tackle decline in clinical researchers, we need this new cohort of researchers to grow the clinical research culture in the UK. This is a hard career path to follow and needs support.
As I leave the panel this March, I am going to miss the scientific discussions and camaraderie of a diverse medical research community. However, I know it is in the fantastic hands of Charlotte Summers and Fiona Watt as the new chair and deputy, respectively.
Ruth is a Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at Newcastle University and an honorary consultant medical oncologist in Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She directs the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre and leads the Newcastle Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Newcastle Cancer Centre.
The focus of her research is first in human clinical trials, running a busy early phase trials practice which includes studies with novel small molecules, antibodies, immunotherapies and cellular therapies. She has taken multiple agents targeting DNA repair into the clinic, including the first-in-class PARP and ATR inhibitors.
Her NHS practice is in skin cancer, treating all types of melanoma with systemic therapies. Nationally she sits on grant funding committees for CRUK and MRC, chairing the MRC Experimental Medicine Panel.
She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018 for her work developing PARP inhibitors as novel cancer treatments for patients. In 2021 she was awarded the ESMO-TAT Lifetime Achievement award for her work in early phase trials and in 2022 an MBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours for Services to Medicine.