06 Nov 07

Professor Rory Collins, Co-director of the world-renowned Clinical Trials Service Unit (CTSU), and BHF Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, has been awarded the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, for his work on clinical trials and epidemiological research.

The J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, awarded annually by the Robarts Research Institute, is presented to the world’s leading researchers in biology, medicine, and imaging.
 
Professor Collins work has been in the establishment of large-scale epidemiological studies of the causes, prevention, and treatment of heart attacks, other vascular disease, and cancer. He became Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of the UK Biobank prospective study of 500,000 people in September 2005.
 
Professor Collins said ‘It is an enormous honour to receive this prestigious prize, which recognises CTSU’S work in identifying effective ways to prevent and treat vascular disease and cancer.’

Rory Collins became co-director, with Professor Sir Richard Peto, of the University of Oxford’s Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) in 1985. In 1996 he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Oxford, supported by the British Heart Foundation. The CTSU was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for higher and further education 2006 for its research contributions to public health.

The CTSU’s work at Oxford chiefly involves studies of the causes and treatment of "chronic" diseases such as cancer, heart attack, or stroke, which collectively account for most adult deaths worldwide. Large-scale randomised and observational evidence is needed to reliably investigate the causes, prevention, and treatment of premature death and disability in developed and developing countries.
 
The prize certificate, commemorative medallion, and $10,000 CDN award will be presented on 14 November at the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine symposium and dinner held in London, Ontario, where Professor Collins will give a lecture entitled ‘Regulatory obstacles to clinical trials: in the public interest?’
 
Past winners of the J. Allyn Taylor prize include distinguished researchers such as David Sackett, the founder of the first department of clinical epidemiology at McMaster University, Canada, and the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine; Alvan Feinstein, the former Sterling Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, at Yale University; and Jonathan Sprent, Professor of Cellular Immunology at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia.