Matt Cooper | Business Development and Marketing Director
NIHR Clinical Research Network

Matt Cooper, Business Development and Marketing Director, NIHR Clinical Research Network

The National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network is the research delivery arm of the NHS.  It invests some £300m each year into an infrastructure of specially-trained clinical research nurses and other clinical professionals across England, to support rapid study set-up and patient identification/recruitment into clinical research studies.  In recent years, the Network has placed a particular focus on its support for the commercial life-sciences industry, which has resulted in year-on-year improvements in patient recruitment numbers for industry studies.
Dr Matt Cooper was recently appointed as the organisation's Business Development & Marketing Director.  He brings a wealth of experience to the post, having been part of the Network structure for many years.  In his previous role he was a member of the leadership team for the Network’s Cancer Specialty, (previously known as the NIHR Cancer Research Network), where he helped to improve patient recruitment to the extent that one in five patients diagnosed with cancer now participate in clinical research – a figure without compare in any other country.  He was also influential in developing alliances between industry and academic researchers to explore innovative uses for new compounds – an initiative he hopes to extend into new therapy areas in his new role.

back to speakers