Hello, my name is Thirza,

and I work as a Junior Clinical Trial Practitioner at Mount Vernon Hospital.

I started my career in the NHS at the beginning of the pandemic as a medical records clerk. This gave me a good introduction to learning a patient’s pathway within oncology, before the opportunity came about to join the research and development team as a clinical trial coordinator. I have built up a good understanding of the clinical trials process and I have developed my skills further, particularly clinically, into my current position as a junior clinical trial practitioner.

No day is ever the same. I work concurrently across a range of studies, both commercial and non-commercial. I have clinical responsibilities such as attending screening clinics, approaching and consenting patients to studies, as well as collecting data and processing samples. There is also the administrative element of the role which includes completing case report forms and data entry, making study amendments as well as responding to and resolving queries regarding studies.

It feels good to know that I am helping to shape better outcomes for patients in the future.

When I started as a clinical trial coordinator, I was providing trial coordination to two of Professor Hall’s research projects: CICATRIx (Study to explore Circulating blood constituents, Imaging and Cognitive Ability with Treatment In patients with various cancers) and RaNGO (Rare Neoplasms of Gynaecological Origin). For both these studies, I have been involved with approaching, consenting and registering patients, obtaining and processing samples and specimens, as well as completing and entering source data. Additionally, I maintain the logs, trackers and investigator site files and respond to queries regarding the studies. I now predominantly work on CICATRIx, but still provide assistance with the RaNGO study to my team and the other sites participating across the country.

I really enjoy working within a multidisciplinary team; I am always learning something new or sharing knowledge in my team and it feels good to know that I am helping to shape better outcomes for patients in the future.

To learn more about the RaNGO project being funded by CTRT and to donate towards it, please click below