• Aston Medical School has successfully bid for funding for 12 National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellows
• The new fellows will expand clinical research areas to include clinical genetics, trauma and orthopaedics, and obstetrics and gynaecology
• Academic Clinical Fellowships are competitive early career awards that aim to develop doctors who combine frontline care with cutting-edge research.

Aston Medical School has successfully bid for funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) for 12 Academic Clinical Fellows.

These competitive speciality training posts are for early career doctors, and aim to develop ‘clinician-scientists’, who combine their frontline care duties with cutting-edge research. Dr Zaki Hassan Smith, a clinical associate professor at Aston Medical School, led the funding application and says that the award will cement Aston University’s collaboration with NHS England and local NHS trusts and offer an opportunity to address local and national health challenges.

NIHR Academic Clinical Fellows are qualified doctors who are undergoing their postgraduate clinical training while carrying out research. The resident doctors (formerly known as ‘junior doctors’) recruited as Aston University’s NIHR Fellows will carry out research in real-world settings at local NHS hospitals, while benefiting from Aston’s research infrastructure, including at the Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN), Aston Research Centre for Health in Ageing (ARCHA), and Aston Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Application (ACAIRA) (ACAIRA) for AI in health. The awards last for three to four years depending on the speciality.

Aston currently has 12 NIHR Fellows following a successful bid in 2023, who are carrying out research in areas including endocrinology, neurology, clinical genetics, paediatrics, trauma and orthopaedics, psychiatry, and general practice. The 12 new Fellows, the recruitment for whom will start in the autumn, will extend Aston University’s research into fields including clinical genetics and genomics, trauma and orthopaedics, and obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as digital health.

Digital health is a relatively new field involving the use of AI and data science to improve patient outcomes, support clinical decision-making and optimise healthcare delivery. Digital health tools based on AI can highlight patterns in mass datasets, which may allow for early detection of diseases and more effective resource allocation. This is crucial because it addresses the increasing call for innovative, data-driven healthcare solutions in times of increased global health burden.

Some of the other projects that will be carried out by the new Fellows include investigating the role of weight loss medications on reducing multi-morbidity, exploring the mechanisms of muscle wasting (sarcopenia) with ageing and metabolic disease, optimising medications in patients with severe mental health conditions, and studying the basis of neurological diseases including epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.

Dr Hassan Smith said:

“Securing 12 new NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow posts is a landmark moment for Aston Medical School. It reflects the strength of our partnerships with the NHS and our commitment to developing the next generation of clinician-scientists. These posts will enable us to nurture talented doctors who will not only deliver outstanding patient care but also lead pioneering research that tackles the most pressing health challenges of our time. For Aston, this represents both recognition of our rapid progress as a new medical school and an exciting opportunity to shape the future of clinical academia in the UK.”