Health Research Bus
Health Research Bus
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The first mobile medical research facility in the UK was launched in June 2010. The pioneering Health Research Bus (HRB), developed by the University of Birmingham, is set to transform the way that clinical research for major health issues like diabetes, obesity and ageing is carried out in the community.
The bus, which is funded by Birmingham Science City via Advantage West Midlands, boasts state-of-the-art scanning equipment and consultation rooms, which will enable scientists from the University to carry out a wide variety of clinical studies, scanning programmes and health promotion activities anywhere in the region.
The Health Research Bus is part of the Translational Medicine strand of the Science City Research Alliance between the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick. To find out more about the TM project, please click the link on the right.
Birmingham researchers will work in collaboration with regional healthcare providers, particularly University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham Children’s NHS Trust, to drive research and intervention programmes delivering tangible health benefits for Birmingham and beyond.As well as a reception area, the bus includes a procedure room where work such as biopsies can be carried out or blood samples taken. It is also equipped with a dedicated £100,000 DXA scanner, which is used for measuring body composition and bone density; resuscitation equipment; IT facilities for data input and space for temporary sample storage.
Professor Paul Stewart, Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer for the University of Birmingham’s College of Medical and Dental Sciences, said, ‘The bus will be taken directly into the community, to GP surgeries, supermarkets and schools, making access to the HRB high-tech facilities readily available to the community.
A major initial focus for the bus will be used in tackling one such health issue – obesity. This is a particularly urgent issue for the West Midlands, as it has highest incidence of obesity in the country. According to Government figures, 28 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women in the region are obese, while a further 48 per cent and 33 per cent respectively are overweight – leaving only around a third of the regional population “normal” weight. Such statistics mean that the population here runs a higher risk of contracting diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
For more information, please download the Health Research Bus flyer on this page.
