Case study: Meet Tumi, the new Head of Research at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

Having worked in the NHS for 22 years and being faced with people who were unwell on a daily basis I became pre-occupied with the idea of wanting to “fix it”. I wanted to make a noticeable difference and better peoples lives specifically around their health. I was fortunate to work under a highly esteemed leader in Research and under the guide and leadership of Lynis Lewis, I quickly became immersed in research and research delivery. It became clear to me that Research is the starting point of improving people’s health. I have since worked in Research Facilitation and Research Management roles and I have been fortunate enough to work for renowned and leading centres of excellence in research and managed complex research portfolio.

What does your current role involve?
My role is to provide strategic and operational management of research activity across Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and as such I lead on the research management, delivery, policies and strategy at SFT. My team and I are committed to creating a thriving Research environment and to flying the Salisbury Research flag sky high!

What do you love about your role?
Aside from having a great team, one of the things I love about my role is the diversity of the role. It’s a fast-paced role that keeps my brain active and working at all times.

What do you find challenging about your role?
Working with people will always be interesting to me, as opposed to challenging. No two people are the same and there are so many factors that can contribute to human behaviour at any given time.

Can you describe a typical day?
I could be coming from a high-level strategic planning meeting and walk straight into a meeting on coordinating and negotiating a feasible patient research pathway and then move onto a HR meeting involving a colleague to walk straight into a meeting on archiving solutions.

Be prepared to be totally and utterly immersed by an ever evolving and exciting career. You’ll never look back, there won’t be any time for that :)