Cookies on this website
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Continue' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Contact information

Tel +44 (0)1865 572396

My connections

Joanna Black

BSc, PhD

OCTRU Head of Quality and Regulatory Affairs

Following on from my BSc. in Biochemistry/Immunology from King’s College London I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Scholarship at the Royal College of Surgeons London where I obtained a Ph.D. in the faculty of Medicine. My first postdoctoral training was at the Ferguson Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, USA where I assessed the safety and efficacy of novel vectors in pre-clinical studies leading to the world’s first Gene Therapy trial in Rheumatoid Arthritis. I followed this by a second postdoctoral position at University College London (UCL) focusing on the role of heat shock proteins in autoimmunity. I then moved on to King’s College Hospital to study the role of natural killer cells in their protection against cancer, and obtained a Leukaemia Research Fund Lectureship where I  led a team to take forward the development of novel immune cellular products such as dendritic cells as potential potent anti-cancer vaccines.  I played a major role in developing a suite to manufacture such vaccines to comply with EU GMP standards and test such vaccines in Phase I trials in a number of malignancies, including Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.

After 10 years of my own research at King’s and several successful publications, I took on the role of a Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Compliance Manager at the R&D office for Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Institute of Child Health where I directed and implemented the first programme of GCP compliance in Paediatric trials to meet the new Clinical Trials Directive. In February 2007, I spent 6 months at the European Medicines Agency working on procedures to implement the new EU Paediatric Regulation for medicines for children. In Sept 2007 I returned to UCL to the Joint R&D department of UCL and University College London Hospital as a senior monitor and senior pharmacovigilance co-ordinator and in Sept 2008 was promoted to  Head of Clinical Trials. In June 2009, I moved to Oxford to the Oncology Clinical Trials Office (OCTO) as the Quality Assurance Manager and 2 years on took on the title of Head of Regulatory Affairs and Quality, to reflect the wider remit of the role. I hold a certificate of GCP from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of the Royal College of Physicians, I am a full member of the British Association of Research Quality Assurance (BARQA) and ISO 9001 GCP Auditor (level 1).   In October 2013, I joined OCTRU as the Head of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs.  I am passionate about clinical research and advancing new therapies and promoting Good Clinical Practice ensuring that clinical research in humans is conducted to the highest ethical standards. 

True True

Recent Publications

5 View 43 more »