From King’s College, London
When: Friday 5 February 2010, 9.30am-12noon
Where: Franklin-Wilkins Building, King’s College London, Stamford Street, SE1
The UK’s only World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory is opening its doors to the media ahead of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Journalists, photographers and film crews will be able to see the lab at work during tours of the facilities. There will also be opportunities to interview its director, Professor David Cowan, and Chief Executive of UK Anti-Doping, Andy Parkinson.
The Drug Control Centre is part of the Department of Forensic Science & Drug Monitoring at King’s College London. Working with UK Anti-Doping to implement the UK’s anti-doping policy in sport, the Centre carried out around 8,000 tests across 70 sports last year. It analyses samples collected from human sports competitors covering events and training in the UK and is one of only 35 laboratories accredited by WADA.
The Centre, led Professor David Cowan, is well respected internationally and has a proven record of successfully delivering analysis services for major games. It was the first human sports drug-testing laboratory established outside of an Olympic Games.
Professor Cowan has been invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to be a member of its Medical Commission and will serve on its Games Group. One of the duties is to liaise between the laboratory Scientists in the Vancouver WADA/IOC accredited laboratory and the IOC on the finding of adverse analytical findings that could give rise to the disqualification of competitors from the Games. This is part of the Drug Control Centre’s work to stop those athletes who cheat by taking drugs.
The Centre has an active research team focusing primarily on drugs in sport but has interest in other areas of analytical toxicology and endocrinology and, as well as the contract with UK Anti-Doping, the Centre undertakes work for a number of other organisations.
To attend please contact Alison Denyer, PR Office, King’s College London
Tel: 020 7848 3073; email: alison.denyer@kcl.ac.uk
Places are strictly limited. Please reply by Monday 1 February. Further information will follow regarding scheduled times of tours and interviews.
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2009) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has over 22,000 students from more than 140 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. For further information visit www.kcl.ac.uk .
UK Anti-Doping is the National Anti-Doping Organisation for the UK and is responsible for ensuring sports bodies in the UK are compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code through implementation and management of the UK’s National Anti-Doping Policy. UK Anti-Doping’s functions include an education and information programme, athlete testing across more than 40 sports, intelligence management and exclusive results management authority for the determination of anti-doping rule violations.
Accountable to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), UK Anti-Doping has a very clear remit in anti-doping in the UK and plays a lead role in the fight against doping in sport.
For further information visit http://www.ukad.org.uk/
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