International Clinical Trials Day
International Clinical Trials Day is held annually on May 20th to commemorate James Lind’s first clinical trial in 1747.
James Lind divided 12 sailors into pairs and gave each pair a different treatment for scurvy. He found that the sailors that received oranges and lemons recovered best. Lind’s study led to the discovery of a treatment for scurvy, and it paved the way for a more advanced understanding of the disease in the years to come.
Clinical trials have advanced significantly in over 250 years since Lind’s study. However, they still serve as a key component of clinical research, allowing physicians and researchers to improve patients’ quality of life by safely testing new treatments.
In honour of this day, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton would like to offer special thanks and recognition to the staff and researchers involved in clinical trials. The collaboration between researchers, clinical staff and research participants makes clinical trials possible at St. Joe’s. Over 140 clinical trials are currently taking place within our hospital.
We tremendously value your organizational skills, professionalism, volunteer spirit and willingness to share your knowledge and enthusiasm for clinical research.
Your support and dedication to improving patient care helps St. Joe’s to provide optimal treatments and therapies to the patients that we are privileged to serve. It also helps to transform care outside of our walls – leading to improvements in care across Canada and around the world.
We would also like to thank and recognize the research participants who freely give up their time to participate in research studies. Research at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is a collaborative effort that relies on the involvement of researchers, clinicians, allied health professionals and research participants.
Your involvement helps our world-class research teams to reinvent the way in which healthcare is practiced, leading to improvements in quality of life for everyone.