Clinical research provides one of the foundations upon which high quality healthcare is built. By pioneering safer, more effective and cheaper solutions to health problems, clinician scientists play an invaluable role in advancing health services.
The Health Foundation/Academy of Medical Sciences Clinician Scientist Fellowships offer the most talented clinical researchers full funding for five years, to pursue academic research alongside clinical practice.
What are we doing?
We are supporting talented people with cutting-edge research proposals that have the potential to improve patient care. In 2006, we awarded more than £3.5m to help six talented clinician scientists pursue projects that could dramatically improve the care patients are receiving.
About the Fellowships
We are looking for translational research proposals in disciplines where there is an identified national shortage of research expertise, particularly in anaesthesia, paediatric disciplines, pathology, psychiatry, radiology and surgery. Exceptional individuals from other medical disciplines will also be considered.
We also encourage applications from people working across discipline boundaries who may have difficulty winning funding from elsewhere.
Participants on the scheme benefit from:
- Full salary replacement funding for five years and an allowance for research expenses
- Protected time allowing Fellows to pursue academic research alongside clinical practice
- An innovative leadership development programme enabling Fellows to become more effective in levering improvement in healthcare
- Access to the Academy of Medical Sciences' extensive network and mentoring scheme
The organisations that support the participants through the fellowships also experience the added advantage of a raised profile in the clinical academic medicine arena.
What are we learning?
An evaluation of the first phase of the scheme has shown that the Fellowships helped participants attract other organisations to invest in clinical academic medicine:
- The 13 Fellows received more than £4.2 million in additional research funding from 29 different funding bodies
- 17.5 full-time equivalent posts have been created as a result of this additional funding
Both Fellows and their senior colleagues reported that the scheme has given them the opportunity to become a leader in their field.
There are encouraging indications that the academic centres housing the Fellows are being increasingly recognised as “centres of excellence” for clinical academic training.
Mary RutherfordClinician Scientist Fellow Read full case study"Thanks to the prestigious nature of the scheme, I have been able to further establish myself as a clinical academic and have gained increasing recognition for my work. I’ve been able to build up my department and my unit has been able to establish itself as a centre of excellence for this type of research."