Prof. Alistair Nichol, Professor of Critical Care Medicine, UCD (Thursday 2nd December)
In an effort to improve our clinical trial response to a future pandemic, Prof. Alistair Nichol has been part of an EU FP7 program (PREPARE) which has been preparing for a global pandemic since 2015. As part of this effort the REMAP-CAP trial, a global adaptive platform trial, has determined that steroids, anticoagulation (in moderate disease) and IL-6 RA are beneficial in COVID-19 and many other therapies are not helpful, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir / ritinovir, convalescent plasma and anticoagulation in critically ill patients. Irish hospitals, investigators and patients have contributed to these findings and are randomising to many additional interventions. He is also part of the SPRINT-SARI observational study which has described the impact of COVID-19 in Ireland and globally.
Alistair is a senior intensivist and clinical trialist. The ‘nerd’ has always been strong with Alistair and he developed a research interest early in his clinical career. He completed a PhD examining a model of infectious ARDS and the effects of hypercapnia on inflammation and damage. This work has led to his ongoing interest in mechanical ventilation and ARDS. He was working in Australia during the H1N1 pandemic and was part of a team which described the pandemic in Australia and published in the NEJM, however, despite their best efforts were unable to conduct a trial during the first wave. Alistair is the Chair and Professor of Critical Care Medicine in University College Dublin (UCD), the immediate previous Chair of the Irish Critical Care- Clinical Trials Group (ICC-CTG), Director of the HRB Irish Critical Care- Clinical Trials Network (HRB ICC-CTN). He has a long commute as he also works in the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care-Research Centre (ANZIC- RC), Monash University, Melbourne. He also has 4 kids aged between 5 and 11 and therefore has no hobbies or interests but lives in hope of that changing.
