Profiles

Here, you can find any of the interviews on this site.



David - Interview 34

David volunteered for a placebo-controlled trial of a new treatment derived from mouse DNA to improve asthma symptoms. He later discovered he was in the group taking a lower dose of the treatment, but he would not have minded being in the placebo group.

  • Background

    David is a full-time student. He is single.

  • Age at interview 56
  • Sex/Gender Male
  • Angela - Interview 23

    Angela was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease after taking part in a trial on nerve conduction. She has since been in a randomised trial of different drugs for Parkinson's and would happily take part in another trial, despite having had side effects.(Angela is also on our Parkinson's disease site, Interview 10).

  • Background

    Angela is a retired former head teacher and special needs adviser. She is married with two adult sons. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.

  • Age at interview 59
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Judith - Interview 24

    Judith agreed to take part in a randomised trial comparing different intervals of chemotherapy treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She was allocated to the standard treatment and responded well.

  • Background

    Judith is an NHS administrator. She is married with 1 adult stepdaughter, and a12-year-old son. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.

  • Age at interview 45
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Marie - Interview 25

    Marie was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in 1992. She was recently invited to take part in a clinical trial of a new monoclonal antibody. At first she thought she would take part but after reading all the details decided against it.

  • Background

    Marie is a housewife, married, with two grown-up children.

  • Age at interview 69
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Danny - Interview 26

    Danny joined a trial of high blood pressure medication, but stopped because of side effects. She has concerns about the way some staff communicated with her and a lack of rapport and respect for her as a volunteer interested in her own health.

  • Background

    Danny is a retired teacher, who now does voluntary work with her grandchildren and their schools. She is married with 2 adult children. Ethnic background/nationality: White, mixed ethnicity.

  • Age at interview 61
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Elizabeth - Interview 27

    Elizabeth was invited to join a trial of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, but decided not to take part as she knew which treatment she would prefer and did not want to be randomised to another group. She felt the consultant was cross about her decision.

  • Background

    Elizabeth is a nurse. She is married with 2 grown-up children. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.

  • Age at interview 53
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Anton - Interview 28

    Anton has a long history of depression and has volunteered for several different trials in mental health, including trials of talking therapies as well as drug trials.

  • Background

    Anton is an auditor. He is single. Ethnic background/nationality: Sri Lankan. (You can see more of Anton talking about his experiences of depression on our site on Mental health’ ethnic...

  • Age at interview 64
  • Sex/Gender Male
  • Charles - Interview 29

    Charles volunteered for two trials, but ended up unable to take part in either of them. The first time he did not meet the eligibility criteria. The second time was because of an administrative mix-up about his age, and he feels it was not well handled.

  • Background

    Charles is a retired chief engineer. He is married with 5 adult children. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.

  • Age at interview 68
  • Sex/Gender Male
  • Sir Iain Chalmers - Interview 30

    Iain is a keen advocate for well-designed randomised controlled trials to test treatments.

  • Background

    Sir Iain Chalmers practiced as a medical doctor until 1973. Until recently, he was a director of the UK Cochrane Centre. He is now Editor of The James Lind Library...

  • Age at interview 62
  • Sex/Gender Male
  • Sir Richard Doll - Interview 31

    Sir Richard Doll was one of the doctors who first demonstrated the link between lung cancer and smoking. He was Warden of Green College, Oxford. He was interviewed shortly before his death, in 2005.

  • Background

    Sir Richard Doll was an eminent public health doctor and a pioneer of clinical trials.

  • Age at interview 92
  • Sex/Gender Male