Intro to Clinical Research

Episode 40 - Avian Influenza

Episode 40
In this episode, we’re back in Elyse’s corner (hooray!), and today, we’re talking about a hot topic in the US: Bird flu. AKA why my eggs so spensy?
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/
Resources/ references - 
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21505594.2024.2343931?src=recsys
https://respiratory-therapy.com/products-treatment/pharmaceuticals/clinical-trials/fda-oks-phase-1-trial-mrna-vaccine-h5n1-avian-flu/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1586/14760584.2013.811178
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9027673/
https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/traws-trials-h5n1-drug/?cf-view&cf-closed
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/avian-influenza
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9191
https://www.wattagnet.com/poultry-meat/diseases-health/avian-influenza/article/15707933/avian-flu-confirmed-on-poultry-farms-in-13-european-countries 
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2025/m0106-h5-birdflu-death.html 

Episode 39 - Clinicians in Clinical Research

Today, we’re talking about the type of clinical staff that are often involved in Clinical Research - including Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists and quite a few more! We’re going to consider what their work as part of research looks like, how it may differ from their usual clinical work and what the benefit is for them.
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/

Episode 38 - Questions and Answers AGAIN!

It is finally time for our long awaited second Q&A episode! We throw questions at each other, though honestly Debbie does answer most of them. Huge thanks to everyone who submitted a question - don’t hesitate to send any more you may have to our email address! 
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/
Resources: Revolutionizing healthcare: the role of artificial intelligence in clinical practice -https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-023-04698-z
Dosing by weight and the morning after pill - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4500687/ 
https://accpjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1875-9114.2012.01108.x#:~:text=Dosing%20based%20on%20body%20weight,not%20increase%20with%20body%20size.

Episode 37 - Patient Eligibility

In this episode, we’re looking at another fundamental topic central to the conduct of clinical research, which is the Inclusion and Exclusion criteria that are used to determine if a patient is allowed to participate in a clinical trial (after they’ve consented, of course!) What kind of things are used to include or exclude patients, and why might there be a LOT of them?
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/

Episode 36 - A Research Site: A Day in the Life

In this episode, we’re reprising some information we’ve talked generally about before, but with a new perspective -  how an average day looks for a site conducting clinical research. Spoiler alert - there’s no such thing as an average day for a clinical research site!
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/

Episode 35 - The Philosophy Ravine

For this episode, we’re taking an enormous detour from our normal content and diving into the philisophody or philisophities ravine, with our wonderful friend Andy. We talk about what philosophy is and why it is important to medical research, whilst investigating discussions around consent, cancer treatment, trauma and pain. Stay tuned at the end for an outtake right when we started recording :) 
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/
Reading Andy recommends - "Writing History Writing Trauma" by Dominic LaCapra and "The Body in Pain" by Elaine Scarry

Episode 34 - Elyse's Corner: The Forbidden Topic

In this episode, we’re back in Elyse’s corner, and today, we’re talking about how governments and politics in general influence medical research and how it is conducted. 
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/
Resources - 
https://acrpnet.org/2024/08/15/the-politics-of-health-how-elections-will-impact-the-life-sciences 
Research investment in the UK - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-secures-400-million-investment-to-boost-clinical-trials 
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/find-a-clinical-trial/how-clinical-trials-are-planned-and-organised/how-clinical-trials-are-funded
 
The articles Elyse referred to - 
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01269-3#Abs1 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1258/jrsm.2008.070373 
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3487230/#sec1-5 
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10741248/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2739020/#b10 

Episode 33 - The End of a Study

We have looked previously at what is needed to start a study, and so today we’re learning what is needed at the other end, when a study is ending. What happens when the patients are completed and we’re trying to wrap everything up? How do studies end and what should be done at that point? Listen to find out!
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/

Episode 32 - Prejudice, Discrimination and Healthcare Impact Part 2

Returning for the second part of this episode, we start with recapping what we talked about in part 1 - although if you missed it you really should go back and listen to Ep30. We’re particularly looking at the healthcare impacts of inequality - why does it matter? And how these things are exacerbated by research. We hope you also note where our shiny rocks are appropriately polished to avoid any fines! 
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/
Resources - 
https://www.aamc.org/news/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22239747 
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/long-reads/what-are-health-inequalities#inequalities-in-life-expectancy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK584392/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37676096/
https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/best-practice/people-centred-clinical-research/people-centred-clinical-research-infographic/ 
Books - 
Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez
Inflamed - Rupa Marya and Raj Patel
Doing Harm - Maya Dusenbery
Divided - Annabel Sowemimo 

Episode 31 - Technology in Clinical Research

What is technology and how is it used in research? How can we, or should we, be using all of the data collected about us for research, and what are the ethical dangers of this? What rules are in place around the handling of our healthcare data? All questions we try and tackle in this episode. We’ll get back to Prejudice, discrimination and healthcare impacts next time!
Remember, you can get in touch with us via clinical.research.intro@gmail.com. Please feel free to send questions, comments and compliments for Elyse to read out on the pod. It’s fun to make Debbie squirm!
Credit to our friend Sam Winnie for their awesome and cute music. Check out their work at https://www.samwinnie.com/
Resources - 
https://ourfuturehealth.org.uk/ 
https://healthdatagateway.org/en