Karen Turner is a Cancer Research UK Senior Nurse based within the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). As a senior nurse Karen’s post is divided between acting as the CRCTU lead nurse with professional responsibility for the clinical research nurses and working closely with CR-UK locally and nationally. This innovative post has been developed to promote the work of Cancer Research UK and cancer trials awareness amongst health care professionals, patients and the public, acting as a CR-UK spokesperson on appropriate stories and giving interviews to local media when required.
An important element of the role is being a 'public face' for clinical trials in the region and engaging with users in research both for media and promotional activities and to ensure consumer representation on local research agenda. This allows Karen to assist in promoting the patient focused nature of trials at the CRCTU.
Along with colleagues around the country Karen supports the national directives for improving recruitment to clinical trials for cancer treatments, prevention and palliative care with the aim of reducing the time taken to obtain results from cancer research projects.
Locally the senior nurse is a member of the Cancer Research UK local Forum, Research Nurse Project Meeting and the Cancer Research Network Training Links for the central region. Nationally the senior nurse is a member of the ECMC Nurses Network Steering Group, Institute of Clinical Research spring meeting working party and special interest group in patient recruitment.