SPIRIT-Path is a project to develop International Consensus Guidance on the Inclusion of Pathology in Clinical Trial Protocols: The SPIRIT-Path Extension

The SPIRIT initiative aims to help improve the completeness and quality of trial protocols. The evidence-based SPIRIT recommendations were developed using systematic, transparent methodology and broad consultation with 115 experts representing diverse stakeholders involved in the design, funding, conduct, review, and publication of trial protocols.

We have set up a steering committee in order to develop international, consensus-based, Pathology-specific protocol guidance in the form of an extension to the SPIRIT statement, a SPIRIT-Path extension.

We feel that an extension to the SPIRIT statement for Pathology will:

  1. Lead to more comprehensive clinical trial protocols
  2. Enhance clinical trial design and drug development through early pathology input
  3. Increase the number and availability of trials-active pathologists by raising the profile of pathologists in clinical trials

Dr Tim Kendall SPIRIT-Path Co-Chair, Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland Representative, University of Edinburgh

Dr Max Robinson, SPIRIT-Path Co-Chair, Newcastle University

Professor David Harrison, CM-Path Chair, University of St Andrews

Dr Abeer Shaaban, CM-Path Member, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham

Dr Dan O’Connor, CM-Path Member, MHRA

Dr Daniel Brierley, Delphi Advisor, University of Sheffield

Dr Jane Lim, Systematic review lead, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Deborah Dillon, US Representative, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Dr Owen Driskell, CM-Path Member, NIHR

Dr Nick West, CM-Path Member, University of Leeds

Dr Maggie Cheang, CM-Path Member, Institute of Cancer Research

Prof Keith Hunter, CM-Path Member, University of Sheffield

Prof Clare Verrill, CM-Path Member, University of Oxford

Prof David Roberts, RCPath Representative, University of Oxford

Dr An-Wen Chan, SPIRIT Representative Women’s College Research Institute, University of Toronto, Canada

Dr José Palacios Calvo, European Society of Pathology Representative Hospital, Universitario Ramón y Cajal

Dr Mark Stewart, US representative, Friends of Cancer Research

Emma Kinloch, Consumer representative, Consumer Lead, NCRI

Prof Gary Middleton, Clinical Advisor, University of Birmingham

Dr Jorge Martinalbo, Industry Representative, Novartis Oncology

Professor John Bridgewater, Medical Oncology, Advisor UCL Cancer Institute

Dr Perry Maxwell, Tissue Hybridisation & Digital Pathology, Precision Medicine Queen’s University Belfast

Christie Heiberg, Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University

Professor Richard Shaw, Surgical advisor, University of Liverpool Cancer Research Centre

Dr Rowena Sharpe, Precision Medicine Trials Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU), University of Birmingham

Dr Roberto Salgado, EORTC Pathobiology Group Representative, University of Antwerp

Dr Gayle Jones, Australia Representative, Cancer Australia

Dr Shahin Sayed, Representative College of Pathologists of East, Central and Southern Africa (COPECSA) and African Strategies for Advancing Pathology (ASAP)

Professor Narong Khuntikeo, Representative, Khon Kaen University, Thailand