Respiratory research training group established for North West junior doctors
A new training group has been established for North West junior doctors with an interest in clinical research into respiratory disorders.
The first meeting took place in January 2020, bringing together registrars from the Greater Manchester and North West Coast Local Clinical Research Networks (LCRNs).
The collaborative has been set-up by Dr Abdul Ashish, the Respiratory Disorders Specialty Lead for NIHR Clinical Research Network Greater Manchester (CRN GM).
It has been designed to improve trainee engagement with research in respiratory medicine and immerse medics in the local support networks. Meetings will be held every two to three months in a bid to foster a culture of clinical research and develop a cohort of respiratory Early Career Researchers.
The meeting in January was organised by Dr Ashish and Joanne Collins, the CRN GM Research Delivery Manager who manages the respiratory disorders portfolio of studies, and attended by trainees from the GM and Merseyside region.
Consultant mentors in attendance were Dr Nazia Chaudhuri, the Lung Fibrosis Research Lead at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT); and Dr Tim Felton, CRN GM’s Specialty Lead for Critical Care and an MFT Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine. Miss Kat Parmar, a Specialty Registrar in colorectal surgery, attended to share her experiences from setting up a surgical collaborative.
Dr Ashish, a Consultant Respiratory Physician at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The meeting was well attended and there were some very useful pointers from Kat on the formation, management and running of a collaborative.
“We discussed how to promote this collaborative among other trainees in our region, as well as some initial project ideas. There seems to be a national drive to support trainee-led research and we in Greater Manchester were very motivated to be one of the early adopters of such a collaborative in respiratory medicine.
“I am really excited by what we can achieve through this new collaborative and look forward to its development and promotion among trainees at all levels.”
