HEAT: The Helicobacter Eradication Aspirin Trial

HEAT is a large scale double-blind intervention study investigating the prevention of peptic ulcer bleeding in patients on aspirin using helicobacter pylori eradication therapy. HEAT is one of the largest clinical trials ever undertaken in the UK. Currently the trial is at its halfway point in participant recruitment, so in joining the project team now the aim for the student is to learn first-hand about the conduct of randomised control trials as well as contribute to HEAT data analyses and economic investigation. In regard to the latter, the main hypothesis to be tested is that the intervention has a positive net monetary benefit, thus the project will involve the student in health economic analyses, such as economic model building. The use of such tools are increasingly relevant to the outputs generated by clinical trials because when introducing diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive technologies in health care these are no longer analysed purely in terms of their clinical efficacy but also in terms of their cost-effectiveness. Research will involve methods of economic evaluation, including systematic review and meta-analysis, primary data analysis, secondary database analysis and economic modelling.
Prospective candidates should have a good (2:1 or above) degree in a relevant subject area (e.g. pharmacy, statistics, economics) and meet the University requirements for English.