Responsible for all of the operational activity of the trials unit, ensuring the structure, budgets and staffing levels are optimised to support the delivery of our trials portfolio and the needs of our funders, collaborators and stakeholders.The job title has remained unchanged for many years, the role and responsibilities have changed enormously! The team is 30-40 people at any given time running a portfolio of CTIMPs and non-CTIMPs with 20-30 active at any given time. The trials may be single centre UK studies or international trials recruiting high stratified populations from multiple countries. Our funders are a mixture of non-commercial (e.g. CRUK) to industry partners including small biotechs and spin outs to global pharma. In the early 2010s I led the CTU through operational reform transition from running large late phase trials to specialising in early phase and expanding the portfolio to include medical oncology, radiotherapy and imaging studies. In 2012 OCTO merged with other Oxford CTUs to create the UKCRC registered OCTRU. Transitioning a portfolio of ongoing trials to a new quality management system and operational structure was extremely difficult both practically and in terms of team motivation.The staffing structure of the unit has had to adapt to changing trials, changing regulatory requirements technologies and budgets. Introducing eCRFs in 2011 meant we needed a team of specialist programmers and more recently established a dedicated pharmacovigilance team to provide specialist support for regulatory safety reporting requirements as well as key communications with IMP providers.More recently I have enjoyed being involved in projects outside OCTO in particularly contributing to the development of the Cancer Specific supplement of the UK Trial Managers Network Guide to Efficient Trial Management (2018), and a consensus statement on complex innovative design trials (Jan2020).

Since Sept 2018 I have been vice-chair and since Sept 2019 chair of the Finance, Premises and Personnel (FPP) sub-committee. As a school governor I am part of the body which is responsible strategic direction of the school and giving constructive challenge to the headteacher and school leaders. There have been major challenges in recent years; the school converted to an academy; embarking on a shared headship arrangement; Ofsted and SIAMS inspections all against a backdrop of decreasing funding but increasing needs and expectation. It is a fantastic school and team to be part of, and fascinating to observe leadership and management in a setting which has many difference and similarities to my role in clinical trials.