I’ve recently had A LOT of conversations with people where the other person says, with some considerable exasperation, ”I’m 40+ and….” describing a situation where they are about to complete a substantial period of growth and achievement only to find themselves on a cliff edge that seems to miss the bridge.
Continue readingOne thing that, on hindsight, I believe has been really challenging about the clinical academic career is the not knowing what the journey should look like. The lack of markers that would allow me make sense of where I am, how far have I come, how long will it be, or even where will I eventually end up.
Continue readingWhen I got my PhD, I had two focuses. To avoid falling off some sudden edge that would leave me jobless for life. And to avoid the comfy slippers.
Nine years ago I attended a big professional conference at which I met a pair. That pair changed my life and career in profound ways, and today has in many ways been a culmination of that change.
I’ve told this story many times, but never this publicly. Now it feels apt to tell.
From as soon as one goes anywhere near the clinical academic step ladder one is told that funders look for leaders, and that one needs to start to become one. From there on it becomes a case of developing one’s leadership skills, competencies and roles. Yet, ironically, I never expected to arrive to the point of actually being one.
“In coming to the end of my internship I have produced some suggestions as to why one might not want to enter the clinical academic world.” Continue reading
I believe supporting and mentoring others are key clinical academic tasks. I view them as favours that people have done for me, and that I seek to pass forward. But it regularly bemuses me how people receive these favours… Continue reading
Guest post by Michael Sykes. I ask myself, ‘OK, so you have had your NIHR Fellowship interview; regardless of the outcome, what have you learnt over the last couple of years that might help others?’. It is likely that I will look back at this in a few years and think how little I knew. Just as I now look at who I was when I first started my clinical academic journey all those years ago! Continue reading
For the last few years, I’ve been a Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist, an NHS Service Manager and a senior AHP. Now, I’ve begun to be a Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow. So, what’s the difference? Continue reading
I was pleased to be asked to write something for this blog, especially when I read the first posts and saw the aim of this blog: opening up the “black box of being a clinician academic”. Then I started thinking: Continue reading
Clinician Academic 