The CRF is multi-speciality and works closely with clinicians and academics from many different specialities. The facilities are equipped to a high standard allowing research to be carried out in compliance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP).

We provide multi-purpose generic rooms which include outpatient clinic rooms, day-case facilities, inpatient beds and meeting rooms, as well as specialist rooms including a metabolic studies area, an endoscopy suite and high-specification isolation rooms.

We also have pre-analytical laboratories embedded within the structure of our CRF’s for investigative research, sample processing, storage, and analysis, as well as an analytical laboratory equipped with flow cytometry, CO₂ incubators, and hoods. A separate freezer room houses several -80°C, temperature-monitored freezers.

The NIHR Clinical Research Facility Birmingham (CRF) is jointly managed by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust (UHB), Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust (BWC) and the University of Birmingham (UoB) and comes under the governance of Birmingham Health Partners (BHP).

We offer a single inclusive management structure across both adult and paediatric sites for all CRF research activity. This approach integrates research governance and delivers both cross-cutting expertise and economies of scale. It also enables studies to be shared across sites, ensuring seamless transitional care from child to adult services.

Managing Director of NIHR Clinical Research Facility Birmingham (Adults CRF) – Dr Dhruv Parekh

Dr Dhruv Parekh is a Consultant in Intensive Care and Respiratory Medicine at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and an Associate Professor in Critical Care and Respiratory Medicine at the University of Birmingham. His research interests are developing novel therapies in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), lung fibrosis, perioperative inflammation, sepsis and critical care.

The Birmingham CRF receives infrastructure funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to carry out experimental medicine research.

Originally funded by the Wellcome Trust in 2000, the CRF has received recurrent funding from the NIHR. 

In 2022, the NIHR announced a new £12.9 million award for the Birmingham CRF, which will continue to give patients opportunities to take part in research across all stages of life – from pregnancy and newborns through to childhood, adulthood and into older age.

We are proud of our skilled and high-performing workforce and ensure all our staff are able to deliver large volumes of experimental medicine research to the highest standards. Led by the CRF Programme Directors, who bring over 70 years of combined experience, the CRF maintains a workforce of nurses, laboratory, and administrative staff who are adaptable to the evolving needs of the facility.

Staff training is prioritised to meet the rigorous requirements of study-specific protocols, including practical skills such as chemotherapy administration, assisting with endoscopies, biopsies, specialist scans, and pulmonary function testing. CRF research nurses are also now trained to take informed consent for Clinical Trial of an Investigational Medicinal Product (CTIMP) studies – a task previously undertaken only by medical staff. This enhanced capability was vital to the success of high-recruitment COVID-19 trials.

Our CRF serves a local and regional population of 5.7 million. Our main aim is to serve the health needs of our entire community, including underserved populations. We provide seamless transitional care from pregnancy through babies, children, adults and older age. Patient and public members are active stakeholders in everything we do. We develop and deliver our programmes across all stages in collaboration with national patient charities and support groups.

“We are the voice of those with lived experience, helping to guide researchers and experts to put patients at the centre of all they do” – Sandra Haynes, CRF patient representative.