Big Red Bus Tour!

So Elise and I finished our first week at the Christie last Thursday and received a nice visit from our lovely professor, Dr. Ryan (international rotation coordinator for UK). We had coffee and then got back to work on our data entry.

Our project looks at patients diagnosed with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma and their survival rates in comparison with published rates based on the targeted treatment they receive. Specifically, we are looking at the following drugs: sunitinib, sorafenib, and pazopanib. The NHS currently only recommends sunitinib and now pazopanib as first line for advanced renal cell carcinoma; however, patients have to meet certain criteria to receive pazopanib first line. The NHS funds drugs based on the guidance of a committee that sets the standard for healthcare.  The committee is called NICE (National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence) A bit different from the way things work in the states.

The goal sample size around 200 patients. Slowly but surely we are making our way! I'm really interested to start looking at the data we've collected and make some inferences from it!

So Thursday night, I left for London! I met up with my friend Jamie who lives just outside of London and was introduced to a few of his friends. Saturday we did the big red bus tour around the city, which was great. Below are pictures from the day:

Naturally I had to take a picture of this... :)