Professor Sir Martin Landray explores smarter randomised trials at Wade spring lecture
The 2023 Wade Spring Lecture welcomed Professor Sir Martin Landray, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, to the Wade Conference Centre on 18 April 2023.
His lecture, “Smarter Randomised Trials for Better Public Health,” explored how large-scale clinical trials can be designed and delivered more efficiently to provide reliable evidence, improve treatments and ultimately benefit patients.
Improving the way Clinical Trials are conducted
Professor Landray has spent more than 20 years leading major clinical trials, particularly in cardiovascular and kidney disease.
His work has focused on making randomised controlled trials simpler, larger and more efficient, enabling researchers to answer important healthcare questions using robust evidence.
The results of trials he has led have influenced drug approvals, clinical guidelines and prescribing practice, helping translate research findings into improvements in patient care.
During the Wade Spring Lecture, Professor Landray explored why smarter approaches to clinical research are increasingly important and how improvements in trial design can help address major public health challenges.
The landmark RECOVERY trial
A major focus of Professor Landray’s recent work has been the RECOVERY trial, which he co-led from March 2020.
Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, RECOVERY rapidly recruited tens of thousands of hospitalised patients and tested a range of potential treatments.
One of its most significant findings was that dexamethasone reduced mortality among the sickest patients with COVID-19, providing evidence that quickly changed clinical practice around the world.
The scale and speed of RECOVERY demonstrated how streamlined randomised trials could generate dependable results during a major public health emergency.
Professor Landray’s experience with the programme also helped inform wider discussions about how clinical research could respond more effectively to future pandemics and other urgent health challenges.
Building better clinical research
Professor Landray is also Chief Executive of Protas, a not-for-profit organisation focused on improving the design and delivery of randomised trials for major public health conditions.
He leads the Good Clinical Trials Collaborative, which works to develop and promote better guidelines for randomised controlled trials.
His contribution to international clinical research has also included work connected with the G7 Clinical Trials Charter and the 100 Days Mission for Pandemic Preparedness, which examined how the world could generate reliable evidence and develop effective responses more rapidly during future health emergencies.
A career dedicated to Public Health and Science
Professor Landray completed his medical training at the University of Birmingham before undertaking specialist training in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and General Internal Medicine.
Alongside his academic work, he has continued to practise medicine as an Honorary Consultant Physician in the Department of Cardiology at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
In 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was knighted for his services to public health and science.
The Wade Charitable Foundation was delighted to welcome Professor Sir Martin Landray to Stoke-on-Trent for the 2023 Spring Lecture, providing guests with an opportunity to hear first-hand how smarter clinical trials can accelerate medical research and contribute to better public health.