The University of Birmingham's College of Medical and Dental Sciences have awarded their Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and Impact Award to the Demonstration of Improvement for Molecular Ovarian Cancer Testing (DEMO) team, who aim to improve uptake and success rates of genetic testing for ovarian cancer.
Genetic testing helps to identify the best personalised treatment options available to each patient to help more women survive ovarian cancer. They are particularly addressing Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities which have the lowest rates of testing.
The team were chosen as winners from a number of applications by the College of Medical and Dental Sciences Lead for PPI, Dr Kanta Kumar, alongside Professor Phil Newsome (Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer) and a wider panel. The DEMO team are the recipients of a sum prize of £250, which includes the opportunity to present their work to the panel for the PPI and Impact Case.
The DEMO team is co-led by Dr Elaine Leung (Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences), alongside Dr Gabriel Funingana from the University of Cambridge.
On behalf of the DEMO team, I am delighted that our co-production work has been recognised by the College for this Patient and Public Involvement and Impact Award. We hope to use this opportunity to reach out to more patients from underserved groups via our developing new co-production group (GO Hildas) to promote the inclusiveness of research and quality improvement in the UK.
Dr Elaine Leung, co-lead of the DEMO team
The first series of launched DEMO materials, including videos introducing genetic testing, understanding results and next steps for patients recently diagnosed with cancer are available to view. These have been developed with patients from Birmingham and Cambridge and aim to improve quality of care for those diagnosed with ovarian cancer across the UK. The team have also recently launched a new co-production group GO Hildas, a group of volunteers keen to make an impact on women’s cancers in the West Midlands area.
For information about DEMO or suggestions for GO Hildas, please contact E.Leung@bham.ac.uk.
