www.mddus.com


Q&A


Dr Thomas Kelley Project leader with the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement, Boston MA; UKFPO academic adviser.


programme outcomes in reduced time. More advice can be sought from your


dedicated academic supervisor who will oversee academic work and provide feedback.


Specialist training On completion of academic foundation training, there are many available options which differ across the UK. For trainees in England, the next step is usually to enter an academic clinical fellowship (ACF) for up to three years with entry at ST/CT1-4. This is followed by up to four years in a clinical lectureship position (entry at ST3 or above), before achieving the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT). These schemes are co-ordinated by the


National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), but many UK charities and funding bodies also provide additional personal fellowship schemes. Support for clinical academics is available from professional bodies including the Royal Colleges. Scotland opted not to follow the ACF scheme and set up its own system, the Scottish Clinical Research Excellence Development Scheme (SCREDS). The entry point is from ST1/ CT1 and can last up to the entire duration of specialty training. Posts are funded by NHS Education for Scotland and Scottish universities. They typically average around 80 per cent clinical time and 20 per cent academic time, with flexibility according to your career stage. More information is available on the NES website at www.tinyurl.com/pdn4smd The BMA website provides a useful


overview (link below) which explains that there are “different opportunities available at the various levels of seniority, and the nature of academia means that careers may not follow an established or set pathway.” It also highlights that, unlike in England, all medical academic training posts at specialty level are


university contracts, with terms and conditions that may differ from those offered by the NHS junior doctor contract. Again, it is important to note that neither


the ACF nor SCREDS are the sole, or even predominant, ways of obtaining experience and training in academic medicine. Look for opportunities in your area by contacting your local research and development office or consider organising your own research project while completing clinical training. University websites will also have details of funded research posts while organisations such as the Wellcome Trust offer research funding.


Moving forward The opportunities for working within academic medicine are varied. Doctors may choose to take up a post as a senior lecturer, consultant/ honorary senior lecturer or pursue a senior clinical fellowship. Notable clinical academics include chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies, and the immediate past director of the Wellcome Trust (and current Chief Scientific Adviser) Professor Sir Mark Walport with many more in the fields of medical education and scientific research. Many agree these are exciting times for clinical academics with great flexibility in choosing which path to follow.


Joanne Curran is an associate editor of FYi


Sources: • Rough Guide to the Academic Foundation Programme, March 2013, UK Foundation Programme Office - www.tinyurl.com/lclp5ft


• BMA – Academic training in Scotland at www.tinyurl.com/op5gyqv


• Medical Careers - www.tinyurl.com/ ohmjylo


What is attractive about a career in academic medicine? Academic medicine is broad, from cellular research to clinical trials to working at the level of the health system. It gives you the opportunity to think about some of the greatest challenges that we face from managing dementia to developing new models of healthcare delivery. Naturally this is challenging and immensely stimulating. You get to be innovative and creative and define where you’re going to focus, how you’re going to investigate a particular problem and once investigated, how this will be translated into a solution. This has the potential to have an enormous, positive societal impact. You get to meet interesting, brilliant people who challenge your thinking. You get to talk about your work, to debate with people, to convince people that what you’re doing makes sense. Ultimately, it is the challenge, the intellectual stimulation and the potential impact that I find most attractive.


What challenges do academic clinicians face? The intellectual challenge, as described above. However, this is positive. The negative challenge is that you have to decide where to focus. You cannot be brilliant at everything. Do you continue with clinical medicine or not, for example? There can also be challenges with getting academic posts as they are very competitive.


What do you consider the most important personal characteristic in a good academic physician? Resilience. Whether this means bouncing back from not getting the academic position you wanted or not getting the results you wanted/hoped for in an investigation.


What is your most memorable experience so far? Getting the job that I always wanted and then really struggling to get the US work visa to turn the dream into a reality.


Is there any advice you could give to a final year or FY trainee considering academic medicine? Don’t think of academic medicine as only lab based or clinical research churning out papers. It is broader than that. I am, for example, about to start working at a healthcare institute set up by Harvard (ichom.org), where we work with healthcare organisations around the world to develop outcome measures for disease management. I think this has the potential to really improve the quality of patient care.


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