Congratulations to Lucy Fletcher, Senior Clinical Trial Manager for the RECOVERY trial, who received special recognition in the UK Trial Managers’ Network (UKTMN)’s first Trial Manager of the Year Award. For over twenty years, the UKTMN has worked to promote and share best practice in clinical trial management. The judges of the award said ‘We would also like to give a special commendation to Lucy Fletcher for her key role in managing the ground-breaking RECOVERY trial for COVID-19 treatments. A huge well done Lucy!’
Lucy, who has a strong background in clinical trial management, oversees the team that coordinates trial activities for each of the participating 176 hospital sites. Given the speed and scale at which RECOVERY was set up, it was a forbidding task to take on, but Lucy rose to the challenge admirably. ‘Working as part of the RECOVERY team has been a unique and amazing experience!’ she says. ‘The emergency situation that the pandemic presented meant the sites had to be set up very rapidly, and we needed a really dynamic approach to manage the trial. It has been challenging, but every bit as rewarding too.’
Modest in her achievement, Lucy is quick to point out the immense team effort involved. ‘I would very much like to acknowledge the whole of the RECOVERY team and especially the rest of the Trial Management team - Karen Taylor, Sarah Howard, Richard Brown, Ayten Basoglu and Wojciech Brudlo who have all worked so incredibly hard - a small but mighty group of people who have been an absolute pleasure to work with’ she says.
‘I’m very grateful to the UKTMN for running this initiative to recognise the efforts of trial managers across the UK. It’s a fantastic way to highlight the important role that trial managers play in the successful delivery of research. I’m very flattered indeed to receive the commendation from the network,’ she concludes.