The Clinical Trials Centre is made up of clinical staff at St Mary’s Hospital and laboratory, operational and management staff at Imperial College London. The clinical team have close links to the Jefferiss Wing at St Mary’s Hospital, a leading UK provider of HIV and sexual health care.

The centre has been researching clinical care for HIV and AIDS for over 30 years. The unit opened in June 1991, with financial support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Jefferiss Trust. Over time, the unit has expanded its remit to undertake research in sexual health, sexual function and infectious diseases. In more recent years, the unit has led several Covid-19 vaccine trials.

The research conducted at the Clinical Trials Centre has been pivotal to improving knowledge around how to care best for people with HIV, with many of these research findings integrated into national guidelines (British HIV Association guidelines).

The centre supports both commercial and non-commercial/academic studies.
 

Patient and public involvement (PPI) and engagement:

The team at the Clinical Trials Centre are keen to work with the local community to help shape the direction of future research. Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) activities including sharing ideas about future research questions, reviewing and re-shaping study documents before ethics submissions (e.g. study protocols and patient information sheets) and helping share research results with the wider community.