Clinical Research Fellow - Trust Doctor in Medicine

The post holder will be required to work as a Clinical Research Fellow taking responsibility for the coordination and support of the UCLH-CrickLegacy study and other relevant clinical trials in COVID-19 such asSTIMULATE-ICP.

The primary role of the post holder is to undertake medical duties in line with the highest safety standards for trial participants and in compliance with Ethical and Good Clinical Practice principles and regulatory standards. The post holder will be delivering day-to-day research – i.e. following the protocol, assessing suitability and obtaining consent for research, undertaking full medical assessments of clinical trial participants including full physical and neurological examinations, ECG interpretation, laboratory test interpretation. Responding to safety concerns regarding trial participants is a key function of this role so experience regarding the acute assessment of the unwell patient and ALS certification is essential.

Whilst the post is not formally approved for physician training from Core Medical Training (CMT) or Specialty Training (ST), it provides an ideal opportunity for gaining experience in clinical trials and we would welcome applicants with a broad range of general medical experience including GIM, Infectious Diseases, General Practice and Emergency Medicine. The post holder will have access to the resources and opportunities that are available to specialist trainees in the departments of Clinical Virology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and will collaborate with clinical teams, other fellows, nurses, other clinical staff and laboratory biomedical scientists.

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is one of the most complex NHS trusts in the UK, serving a large and diverse population.

We provide academically-led acute and specialist services, to people from the local area, from throughout the United Kingdom and overseas.

Our vision is to deliver top-quality patient care, excellent education and world-class research. We provide first-class acute and specialist services across eight sites:

• University College Hospital (incorporating the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing)
• National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital
• Eastman Dental Hospital
• Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine
• University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre
• The Hospital for Tropical Diseases
• University College Hospitals at Westmoreland Street

We are dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of many complex illnesses. UCLH specialises in women’s health and the treatment of cancer, infection, neurological, gastrointestinal and oral disease. It has world-class support services including critical care, imaging, nuclear medicine and pathology.

The UCLH Research Directorate is made up of the Joint Research Office, the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre and NIHR Clinical Research Facility UCLH.

The Legacy study is a multicentre consortium built from Clinicians and Group Leaders from across the Francis Crick Institute and University College London Hospitals that tackles issues at the front-line of the on-going pandemic. Key aims include the study of coronavirus infection to develop understanding of the dynamics of pandemics such as Covid-19. Legacy utilises a unique bank of clinical samples gathered as part of the Crick Institute’s COVID-19 testing facility providing a remarkable resource for the investigation of facets of COVID-19 including immunity against emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (Wall et al., Lancet, 2021a; Wall et al., Lancet, 2021b), disease progression (Townsley et al., medRxiv, 2022), the impact of prior infection on immunity (Wu et al., Lancet, 2022a) vaccine efficacy and vulnerability of populations such as healthcare workers that can be used to inform policy on health and safety. Legacy also directly interfaces with other UCLH COVID studies examining the effect of the pandemic on different patient groups, including the NIHR funded STIMULATE-ICP trial. STIMULATE-ICP a large multi-centre trial investigating the symptoms, trajectory and pathogenesis of Long COVID in patients with persistent symptoms >12 weeks after primary COVID-19 infection. The causes of Long COVID remain unknown, and over 2 million people in the UK are estimated to be affected over the last 3 years. The post holder will undertake clinical work in the Post-COVID clinic at UCLH, and work on a reverse translational sub-study within the trial at the Francis Crick Institute, to test hypotheses on the causes of Long COVID and examining the immunological phenotypes underpinning a range of COVID-19 symptoms.