RESEARCH EXCELLENCE PRIZE- ONCOVID

Winter prize to acknowledge cancer pandemic response-Imperial’s ONCOVID CONSORTIUM 

• Imperial’s Oncovid consortium has been awarded a national award by the UK Coronavirus Cancer Programme (UKCCP) for their efforts in protecting cancer patients during the coronavirus pandemic.

• Awards were given to David Pinato, Alessio Cortellini and the wider ONCOVID research team.

• The ONCOVID consortium successfully delivered a retrospective non-interventional study from 2020 to Summer 2022. They investigated the severity of SARS-CoV-2 in cancer patients and evaluated long-term outcomes. OnCovid is supported by the Imperial College BRC and by the University of Piemonte Orientale for statistical support

• Dr James Platt, research excellence award co-lead said “We know that good research is delivered by skilled academics able to successfully build bridges. The ONCOVID community launched very quickly with a registry-based system. It was extremely successful in linking research programmes in Britain with European counterparts such as Spain and Italy.  It was a fantastic example of good collaborative research”

• Dr Lennard YW Lee, co-lead of the UKCCP said “The United Kingdom has pioneered new methods of data-driven hyper-accelerated research. It has been great for our country to have led the world to identify and mitigate risk to cancer patients. A major part of this initiative was delivered through the incredible work of Alessio, David and Oncovid”.

Dr Justin Liu, research excellence award co-lead noted “This award was extremely competitive, however, the number of publications coming out of this consortium has been impressive. Their research has helped develop strategies to deliver safe care  within the wider UK cancer community”.

The award is a nationally competitive process inviting proposals from across the United Kingdom and led by Leeds academic oncologists Dr James Platt and Dr Justin Liu.