Oxford Health BRC Newsletter Issue 08

Welcome back to the September 2024 issue of the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC) newsletter which summarises all recently published news and updates in one place.

To feature in future editions email Oxford Health R&D Comms

Official welcome for new Oxford Health BRC Director Designate

In August, Prof Rachel Upthegrove was officially welcomed to Oxford Health BRC and the University of Oxford's Department of psychiatry . As well as the new director designate and Senior Clinical Researcher of OH BRC, Prof Upthegrove chairs the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (MH TRC) which manages the delivery of the NIHR and Office for Life Science (OLS) Mental Health Mission (MHM).

You can now follow Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility (OH CRF) on social media platform Linked In. This development accompanies a significant content rebuild on their web pages.

Find them online: Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility website

New drug to treat patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s

Prof Vanessa Raymont, Oxford Health’s R&D Director comments on the recent MHRA licencing of Lecanemab , a medication which has shown some evidence of efficacy in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease

Read more on the Oxford Health BRC website.

New Online Therapies Bring Oxford Mental Health Research to NHS Patients

Oxford University announces four new online therapies which were developed with support form OH BRC to target childhood anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders, and are now available on the NHS.

Long-term cognitive and psychiatric effects of COVID-19 revealed in new study

In a study led by Dr Maxime Taquet, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford, it was found that many people who were hospitalised with COVID-19 continue to have cognitive and psychiatric problems even two to three years post-infection. The study was published in Lancet Psychiatry

New shingles vaccine could reduce risk of dementia – major study indicates

An OH BRC funded study of more than 200,000 people by researchers at the University of Oxford indicates that the new shingles vaccine is more protective against dementia compared to the previous shingles vaccine.

Welcome to the new Head of Research and Development at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Martin Batty joined Oxford Health as Head of R&D in August. Professionally his work has focused on neurodevelopmental disorders, primarily attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), looking into brain function (using fMRI and ERPs) and structure (MRI). Martin tells us "I feel privileged to be working with my colleagues at OHFT, who have been so welcoming, supportive and knowledgeable. Together I hope we will continue to build on the very solid base to consolidate Oxford Health's reputation as a leading place for brain health research. "

Join #Red4Research on 20 September

#Red4Research brings together all those participating, supporting, and undertaking research. On September 20, wear something red to show your support for research. You can download this placard and have your photo taken with it for social media. Use hashtag #Red4Research.

More information: Red4Research website

The University of Oxford's Department of Psychiatry Introduces a Race and Psychiatry Journal Club

Founders of the Journal Club talk through how they set up the group last year, how it has progressed and tips for those keen to set up similar groups.

Read more on Dept of Psychiatry website.

How we’ve succeeded in recruiting older hospital patients onto our trial

Professor Sarah Pendlebury, from the NIHR Oxford BRC’s Preventive Neurology Theme, and Dr Aubretia McColl, of the Wolfson Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia, explain how they have tackled the challenge of recruiting older, frail patients with multiple conditions to trials within acute care in hospitals. They are running a trial exploring how digital biomarkers can help spot patients at high risk of dementia. Their blog featured on the NIHR website during July.