31 March 2023
Researchers to run Southampton Half Marathon
Matt Stammers, Florina Borca, and Michael George work as researchers for University Hospital Southampton. Passionate about their jobs, they are taking on the ABP Southampton Half Marathon this April to raise money for future research to benefit patients, not just in Southampton, but potentially around the UK.
Florina explains: “We all work in the Research Data Science Unit. Within the unit we work with organisations by extracting anonymous patient data which is then used for the research project.
Matt is a gastroenterologist and informatics clinical fellow, Michael is a clinical data engineer, and I am a performance and research manager.
Clinical research trials and studies are part of everyday life in the NHS, and most care that patients receive in hospital is the result of research.
At any one time in Southampton, there are hundreds of studies being done. Much research is ongoing so we can continue to provide the very best care and treatment for our patients.
This can be improving current treatments and medicines or developing new and better ones for the future. It can be looking at how to reduce patient waiting times or improve how specialist surgeries are performed. It is so varied!”
Running ABP Southampton Half Marathon
Matt adds, “We know first-hand that research is crucial within the NHS which is why we are raising money specifically Southampton Hospitals Charity research appeal.
We signed up for the ABP Southampton Half Marathon as part of a new year’s resolution we made! It will be the first competitive race for all of us. We are hoping for a great atmosphere to get us over the finish line!
None of us have ever really done any running before, but we are slowly increasing our distance, and tracking it using Strava.
We are all very competitive, so this has really motivated us to keep going, and to continue to train. Florina is the fastest of all of us, so while we start off together, I think we may finish at different times!”