UCL and Oxford unite to tackle challenge of sustainable medical innovation

UCL and the University of Oxford have come together to form CASMI - the Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation. Under the joint Chairmanship of Sir John Tooke, UCL Vice Provost (Health), and Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford and led by founding Director, Dr Richard Barker, CASMI seeks to address one of the most important societal problems of the 21st century - turning investment in basic research into population health gain. An official launch event to mark this unique commitment by two world-leading Universities was held at the Wellcome Trust on Wednesday 20th March. CASMI is a virtual Centre, which brings together CASMI Fellows across the partner Universities, from disciplinary areas including life and biomedical science, ethics, laws, economics, statistics, politics, business studies, psychology, sociology, behavioural science and more. This enables the Centre to bring a uniquely holistic perspective on the core problem that CASMI will tackle - turning bioscience breakthroughs into patient benefit. This challenge is also a specific area of national priority, as addressed by the Government's Strategy for UK Life Sciences. Drawing on the capacities of two world-class universities and our wider partnerships, CASMI offers the opportunity to rise to the challenge of reshaping the innovation pipeline for the benefit of both patients and the economy.