The mission of the CRASH Trials Co-ordinating Centre is to efficiently and effectively conduct clinical trials to improve the evidence-based knowledge that will help clinicians to treat patients better.

TRIAL MANAGEMENT

Haleema Shakur, Trial Manager, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Trials
Overall responsibility for day-to-day management of the trial
"I am very excited about managing the CRASH-2 trial. I have the day to day responsibility for making sure that we have a successful trial, that the trial is conducted to a high standard and to make sure our collaborative group grows. The group we have formed as a result of the MRC CRASH trial is truly unique and I hope that we can build a bigger and more inclusive team for CRASH-2 and that we can go on and answer many more clinically important questions in trauma.

If you have any suggestions about how we can improve the trial processes for you, please let me know. I look forward to meeting all of you during the course of the trial."

Ian Roberts, Clinical Co-ordinator, Professor of Epidemiology
Overall responsibility for the conduct of the trial
"My research interests include the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of injury, with the aim of providing rigorous research evidence on which to base intervention strategies."

Phil Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Statistics & Epidemiology
"Working on the MRC CRASH trial was an incredible experience. I had the opportunity to meet and work with health care professionals from all over the world. Every day, thanks to the help from the collaborators, we were able to improve the way we collected the trial data to ensure that we had complete and accurate data for analysis. We learnt much from CRASH1 and those lessons are now being implemented in CRASH-2."

Professor Tim Coats
Professor of Emergency Medicine University of Leicester
- Clinical expert Trauma Care
"I am involved with this trial as I think that coagulation management is an under-researched area for trauma care. The MRC CRASH trial of steroids in head injury set up a worldwide network of trauma researchers - this network could be an important resource for the future of trauma care. I am excited about helping with the continuation and strengthening of the CRASH research network. In parallel with the CRASH-2 trial I will be continuing my research in Leicester University looking at the underlying mechanisms of the disturbance in coagulation follwing injury."

Dr Beverley Hunt
Consultant in Departments of Haematology and Rheumatology, Guy's and St Thomas' Trust;
Honorary Senior Lecturer in Clinical Haematology, Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Medical School, London
- Clinical expert Haematology and Fibrinolysis

DATA

Lin Barnetson, Data Manager
Responsible for the day-to-day management of data collection
"My role as Data Manager is to ensure that, for the final analysis, we obtain high quality datasets from our worldwide collaborators. The MRC CRASH trial was such an exciting project and much was learned. I am delighted to be working with you all again on CRASH-2 and look forward to continuing our electronic data dialogue around the world. If you have difficulties in sending the data to us, please let me know and we will find the way that is best for you."

RECRUITMENT

Pablo Perel, Regional Co-ordinator Latin America and Caribbean Region, Clinical Lecturer
As an epidemiologist I am interested in research that addresses relevant health problems. Trauma is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide and simple interventions such as Tranexamic Acid could save thousands of lives. I am very proud to be a member of CRASH-2, a large and simple clinical trial that will answer this important question. I collaborate with the investigators from all Spanish speaking countries and I am very happy to help you with all trial related aspects.

Lisa Cook, Regional Co-ordinator South East Asia
My responsibilities include all aspects of the trial process in hospitals in South East Asia and also some East European countries. This includes finding new trial sites, assisting with ethics and regulatory applications and ensuring good levels of patient recruitment. Do contact me if there is anything I can do to help you.

Taemi Kawahara, Regional Co-ordinator India

Eni Balogun, Regional Co-ordinator Africa, Middle East, Western Europe
My name is Eni Balogun and I coordinate trial activities in Africa, Western Europe and the Middle East. I am here to help deal with any day to day issues that might arise whilst you're doing the trial; this could be anything ranging from getting ethics committee and regulatory authority approvals to issues impacting on patient recruitment at your hospital.

Do get in touch to let me know how we can help make trial easier for you to do!

ADMINISTRATION

Maria Ramos, Administrator
Overall administration; budget monitoring and finances; production and distribution of trial treatment and other trial materials; publicity through newsletters and the website.
"Having had similar responsibilities for the wonderful MRC CRASH Trial, I am pleased to be sharing the challenges of CRASH-2 and the continuing friendship with all our collaborators worldwide. I will do my very best to overcome the problems with international freight transport and customs and to keep your treatment pack stock at an adequate level.

Please let me know if any of your contact details change. It is important that we are able to keep in touch with you at all times. Do contact me also if you would like to receive any other trial materials, such as posters, teaching packs or protocols. I am here to help!

THE SCHOOL

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is Britain's national school of public health and a leading postgraduate institution worldwide for research and postgraduate education in global health.

Part of the University of London, the London School is the largest institution of its kind in Europe with a remarkable depth and breadth of expertise encompassing many disciplines. The School was ranked one of the top 3 research institutions in the country in the Times Higher Education's 'table of excellence', which is based on the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), ahead of the London School of Economics, Oxford, Imperial and University College, London. The institution also achieved the largest increase in ranking compared with 2001, of any of the top 10 institutions in the RAE rankings. In 2009, the School became the first UK institution to win the Gates Award for Global Health.

The School's environment is a rich multicultural one: there are almost 4000 students from 100+ countries following 22 taught masters courses delivered either in London (~650) or through distance learning (~2700), and undertaking research degree training (~400). Over 40% of these students are from non-European countries. The largest growth has been in distance learning students (>40% over 3 years), though the London-based student population (where accommodation limits growth) is at its highest level ever. Alumni are working in more than 180 countries. The School has about 1300 staff drawn from over 60 nationalities.

There are research collaborations with over 100 countries throughout the world, utilising our critical mass of multidisciplinary expertise which includes clinicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, social scientists, molecular biologists and immunologists. At any one time around 80 School staff are based overseas, particularly in Africa and Asia. We have a strong commitment to partnership with institutions in low and middle income countries to support the development of teaching and research capacity.

The School has expanded greatly in recent years. Its research funding now exceeds m£60 per annum, much of it from highly competitive national and international sources. The commitment of staff to methodological rigour, innovative thinking and policy relevance will ensure that the School continues to occupy a leadership position in national and global health, adapting quickly to new challenges and opportunities.

Mission

The School's mission is to contribute to the improvement of health worldwide through the pursuit of excellence in research, postgraduate teaching and advanced training in national and international public health and tropical medicine, and through informing policy and practice in these areas.

More information on the School is available on its web site at www.Lshtm.ac.uk

THE FACULTY

The Faculty of Epidemiology & Population Health (EPH) houses a large group of epidemiologists, demographers, statisticians and nutritionists working on issues of major public health importance in the UK and globally. EPH has approximately 294 staff members organised into five research departments.

• Department of Population Studies
  
• Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology
  
• Department of Medical Statistics
  
• Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology
  
• Department of Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research
  

The Faculty has a teaching programme consisting of nine MSc courses: Epidemiology, Demography and Health, Medical Statistics, Public Health in Developing Countries (run jointly with the Faculties of Infectious & Tropical Diseases and Public Health & Policy), Public Health Nutrition, Reproductive & Sexual Health Research, Veterinary Epidemiology (run jointly with the Royal Veterinary College), and the Distance Learning courses in Epidemiology and Clinical Trials. The Faculty also has approximately 149 research students studying for an MPhil, PhD or DrPH degree. The Head of Faculty is Professor Laura Rodrigues.

THE DEPARTMENT

The Department of Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research (NPHIR) consists of a multi-disciplinary team aiming to become a centre of excellence to support the testing and evaluation of public health interventions in developing countries and in the UK, with a focus on interventions to reduce the excess burden of ill health associated with poverty and deprivation. In particular, the Department aims to facilitate the development of appropriate policies and interventions to reduce this burden, based both on the investigation of new issues and key policies, and on a re-appraisal of existing knowledge. The Department has strong links with many overseas research groups. The Head of Department is Dr Phil Edwards.