Curiosity: a super power?

I’m so excited I might just burst! I think I may have today figured out my super power!!

NHS managers and clinical academics: a match made in…?

In the past 15 years, I’ve worked with a range of NHS managers at different levels across a number of organisations. I’ve also mentored a sizable pool of further clinician academics working with their managers. Reflecting back, what realisations would I like to share with both NHS managers and clinical academics?

Out of the basement to go down under: doing an international visit

“I have recently (pretty) successfully completed the task of co-ordinating an international visit as part of my NIHR Clinical Lectureship. I thought it might be helpful to others planning training to share some of the things that worked well for me…and some that didn’t!!”

Joint clinical academic roles: sharing learning

Do you feel a “a serious lack of organisational and professional value” placed on NMAHP clinical academic skills, knowledge and, ultimately, roles that you try to advance?

What am I, and what should I do?

What am I? Where am I going? Am I actually achieving anything worth while? What should I be doing?

These questions have grown louder and louder in my mind over the past year, and as I recently read Jemma’s post it did not go un-noticed that some of these might be questions inherently built into being a clinical academic. So I thought I would share my ponderings of these questions, in what seems to have turned out a somewhat personal post.

Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.

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.

10 Reasons why NOT to start a clinical academic journey

“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.”

Is research for me? Self-assessment

Getting into research is often more like a long gentle slide than a single step. There is plenty of time to wonder if you should be on that slide or jump off, and whether or not you like the look of the landing spot.

How to receive academic help and support

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…

Eat me alive

To me, one of the weirdest aspect of being a clinician academic is regularly feeling that someone seems to want to chop my head off, without me clearly knowing why.