19 February 2025
Congratulations to several junior researchers who have managed to secure funding to undertake pre-doctoral fellowships at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals (RBHH).
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the Pre-doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (PCAF) scheme is aimed at individuals (who are not doctors) looking to start or advance a career in research. The funding enables recipients salaried time to develop a doctoral fellowship application and to undertake funded academic training.
RBHH has a strong history of staff successfully securing PCAF funding, despite the extreme competitiveness of the scheme, and this round was no different with four strong applications.
Read more about the successful recipients below.
Bethan’s area of research will focus on patients inherited cardiomyopathies (heart muscle conditions), a leading cause of death globally, including sudden cardiac death in those under 35 years.
Nationally it is recognised that there is poor uptake of the current screening methods used to identify family members who have undiagnosed cardiomyopathies or are at genetically increased risk of developing it.
Bethan’s project aims to better understand who to screen and how to increase screening uptake in those that would benefit most, by looking at existing clinical data to identify if there are patterns or key characteristics in those that present for screening, and more challengingly, those that do not. She aims to follow this up with interviews around the incentives, enablers and barriers to familial screening uptake.
Explaining the importance of her research, Bethan said:
“I am beyond delighted and grateful that NIHR have seen the value in my proposed project, my supervisory team and me. I hope the award also reflects positively on the nursing profession having an important stake in clinical academia and research.
“More importantly however, the aim is that the project will provide some evidence-based insight that will ultimately enable people from all areas of society to access familial cardiomyopathy screening in an equitable way.”
George’s project will be focusing on pulmonary rehabilitation in patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Pulmonary rehabilitation is a supervised programme of exercise-training and education that alleviates breathlessness, enhances exercise capacity and improves quality of life.
Currently, about 50% of patients with COPD referred to undertake pulmonary rehabilitation do not complete the programme. He aims to determine whether those given the drug azithromycin, which helps reduce exacerbations and hospitalisations in COPD patients, also improves the likelihood of them completing the pulmonary rehabilitation course.
He will also be running workshops with patients and healthcare professionals to determine the reasons why the drug may or may not be prescribed to help COPD patients improve their chances of completing the pulmonary rehabilitation course.
George explained the importance of the research:
“Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is the cornerstone of management in COPD, however, many patients who attend PR are unable to complete and therefore don’t get the full benefit. Finding out whether the prescription of azithromycin influences would be a step in combatting these low rates of completion.
“I’m very honoured to have been funded for this award and am very excited to get started.”
Laura’s project aims to explore diet quality in children with cystic fibrosis who are taking cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapies. Her fellowship is a NIHR Charity Partnership Fellowship which is jointly funded with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
CFTR modulator therapies are a class of drugs that have revolutionised the lives of people living with CF eligible to take them, allowing them to live longer. However, with ageing comes a higher risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
Eating a healthy diet can lower the risk of developing these chronic diseases and this is especially important for people with CF, as they already have a risk of some chronic conditions that comes with the disease. However, previous dietary guidelines recommended a high calorie/ fat diet to combat malabsorption (when the body has trouble absorbing nutrients from food).
Laura’s research aims to review the evidence around diet quality in these children and undertake a survey of current dietetic practices to improve diet quality in this group.
Laura said: “I am thrilled to have been successfully awarded the PCAF and hope that my research will help optimise the nutritional care of children with cystic fibrosis.
“I’m grateful to the NIHR and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust for funding my award, and many of my colleagues for their support and guidance with my application. I look forward to collaborating with colleagues, children with cystic fibrosis and their families to explore this important area further.”
Lorraine aims to determine the prevalence and characteristics of elevated Lipoprotein (a) in children’s cardiovascular clinics, both within the Trust and nationally.
Lipoproteins are a combination of fat and protein made by the liver and Lipoprotein (a) is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, it is not routinely measured in clinical practice, nor is it represented in UK clinical guidelines.
Lorraine’s work will focus on determining how screening for the condition varies across the country, the reasons for this and possible ways it can be standardised.
On receiving the funding Lorraine said: “This is a significant achievement, as I know that NIHR funding is highly competitive and as such I feel my research proposal has been recognised for its potential impact to deliver meaningful outcomes.
“I am incredibly grateful to those around me who have supported me to shape a successful PCAF application.”