DRWF attended a poster reception in the House of Commons on 19th July in recognition of the charity's contribution to medical research in the field of diabetes.
The DRWF poster was presented in Parliament along with 18 other charity posters and recognised the importance of the grant of £1.2 million given to the University of Oxford to build a ‘state of the art’ human islet isolation facility. The Clinical Islet Transplant Programme is now funded by the Department of Health and the DRWF facility provides human islets to five other centres across the UK.
Research Advisory Board member Professor Paul R V Johnson, Director of the DRWF Human Islet Isolation Facility and Oxford Islet Transplant Programme attended the reception along with DRWF Chief Executive, Sarah Bone, pictured.
Chief Executive Sarah Bone said, 'It was a fabulous opportunity for a relatively small group to stand alongside organisations such as the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council and show how research funding has enabled lab-based science to progress'.
Professor Paul Johnson, who presented the DRWF poster said, 'The AMRC Summer Reception was an ideal opportunity to showcase the significant advances in the field of pancreatic islet transplantation in the UK, and to emphasise the importance of close collaborations between Academia, a Medical Charity (Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation), and the National Health Service that has enabled this minimally-invasive treatment to move from the bench to the bedside.'
The reception gave new MPs the opportunity to meet charities, hear from invited speakers, find out more about medical research and get updated on the latest work that is being funded by medical research charities.
The Association for Medical Research Charities (AMRC) invited All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) members to nominate researchers they believed would bring research alive for Parliamentarians, as part of their annual summer reception.
This year's theme was medical research: from underpinning science to clinical practice, encompassing epidemiology, applied and translational research, policy and infrastructure projects.
DRWF’s poster, 'Diabetes – Building today for a cure tomorrow', was selected as one of three winners under the category 'Building infrastructure'.