GOSH researchers receive prestigious award

We're delighted to announce that Professor Helen Cross and Professor Mark Peters have been named NIHR Senior Investigators in this year’s prestigious award list.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)'s Senior Investigators are among the most prominent and prestigious researchers funded by the NIHR and the most outstanding leaders of research within the NIHR research community.

Dr Kiki Syrad, our Director of Research and Innovation at GOSH said:

“We know that children seen at hospitals that carry out research do better, even if they don’t take part in the research themselves. This is why it’s so important that our expert clinicians are also at the forefront of research to save and improve the lives of children and young people with rare or complex diseases. A huge congratulations to both Helen and Mark for their achievement!”

Professor Helen Cross is an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Neurology at GOSH as well as Director of our closest research partner, the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

Her research has focused on improving outcomes for children with early-onset epilepsy. Her early research focussed on drug-resistant focal epilepsy and she has developed an epilepsy surgery programme based on her research.

She conducted the first randomised controlled trial of the ketogenic diet in the treatment of children with drug-resistant focal epilepsy and is endeavouring to conduct the same in the very young and adults.

Recognising there was little in the way of control data about neurodevelopmental progress, she initiated the North London Epilepsy in Infancy study, where a cohort of children was recruited at diagnosis in the first two years of life and has been followed to at least three years.

Professor Cross now aims to conduct a similar study over a wider geographical area, also examining phenotypes and genotypes.

Professor Mark Peters has been a Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care at GOSH for over 20 years and has been a Professor of Paediatric Intensive Care at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health since 2014.

His research focuses on pragmatic questions for front-line clinicians.  He led the UK Paediatric Critical Care Society Study group during its development into a globally important trials group.

He has been part of the team that has delivered many of the major trials in paediatric intensive care in the last 15 years including ChiP, SandWiCh, and the 2 FIRST-ABC trials. 

He was chief investigator on several multiple centre trials, including SCARF, FEVER and GASTRIC-PICU (as co-chief investigator).  Most recently he led the practice-changing Oxy-PICU trial. This was the largest ever individual patient randomised trial in critically ill children. It demonstrated that lowering oxygen targets below the levels that are typically used improves outcomes, saves lives, reduces days on intensive care and lowers costs.

Professor Mark Peters now aims to embed clinical trials into routine care for all critically ill children.