Research centre named after Bob Champion

A £19million new medical research centre is to be named after Bob Champion – the jockey who famously beat cancer and went on to win the Grand National.

New treatments

The Bob Champion Research & Education Building will be run by University of East Anglia (UEA) in partnership with the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital.

It will provide high-tech laboratories for research into new treatments for a range of diseases affecting the ageing population.There will also be a bio-bank facility to store DNA and tissue samples, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Against the odds

The Bob Champion Cancer Trust was set up in in 1983, two years after the jockey won the Grand National on Aldaniti. Like his rider, the Thoroughbred had also returned to racing against the odds – after an injury threatened to end his career.

The trust was the new resarch project’s biggest charitable donor, raising £750,000 and helping to take charitable funds to more than £2.2m.

Great step forward

“We’re very excited by the prospect of the work that will be carried out within the Bob Champion Research & Education Building,” said Bob.

“The trust is looking forward to working with UEA and in particular professor Colin Cooper and his team – this is a great step forward for our research programmes.”