17 November 2023
Congratulations to Jennifer Kilduff, specialist physiotherapist in respiratory medicine, at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, who has been awarded a pre-doctoral clinical and practitioner academic fellowship (PCAF).
PCAFs are funded by Health Education England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, offering salaried time to healthcare professionals to develop a doctoral fellowship application and to undertake funded academic training.
Jennifer recently completed a research fellowship funded by Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity, a scheme which helps to develop staff in research skills and encourage applications for further research funding.
Thanks to the initial research funded by the Charity scheme, Jennifer secured a PCAF which will allow her to gain further research experience and to undertake formal academic training and professional practice.
During her Charity-funded fellowship, Jennifer conducted qualitative research with bronchiectasis patients and rehabilitation staff, to help co-design a home-based rehabilitation intervention, comprising home-based exercises and education with a focus on self-management.
On her PCAF, Jennifer aims to determine how feasible this home rehabilitation programme is in individuals with bronchiectasis receiving home IV antibiotics to inform the design of a larger future evaluation trial.
Jennifer aims to also use this funding to support an extensive training and develop programme, including statistical analysis, academic writing, leadership and key research skills.
Jennifer was “thrilled” with the award and said:
“I am very grateful for the efforts made by my colleagues, supervisors, mentors and manager to support me in this application. I am very proud to be a part of the growing community of allied health professionals in research at our hospitals. I’m excited for what the future holds for aspiring junior researchers!”
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