CRUK Newcastle Clinical Academic Training Programme/ Year 1 QQ2

The Newcastle CRUK Clinical Academic Training Programme (NCAT) is a flexible, multi-entry point training programme, integrated with an established run-through clinical training pathway via the Newcastle Health Innovation Partners Academy (NHIP-Academy).

This gives us a unique opportunity to offer alumni of the scheme wrap-around support and flexible fellowship options to retain them throughout the multiple stage long training pathway.

The overarching vision of the programme is to train and retain the next generation of clinical Principal Investigators delivering translational research.

This is fully aligned with the vision of the Newcastle CRUK Centre which is to be internationally leading in the translation of advances in cancer research into patient benefit – the “clinical delivery of translational research”.

We provide the ideal multi-disciplinary training environment for alumni of the scheme to obtain competitive fellowships and continue on their trajectory to become world class translational clinical academics in cancer research.

In the last quinquennium we have established a cohort of aspiring clinical academics at two levels, consistently having significantly more appointable applicants for the fellowships than places available.

The length of the training pathway for clinical academics means that our first doctoral fellows are completing their PhDs and moving into NIHR Clinical Lecturer positions, with protected research time to maintain their interests and outputs.

We are therefore requesting to renew and expand our programme, building on this success and enabling the continuing support of existing alumni.

The recent renewals and expansion of the CRUK Newcastle Drug Discovery Programme (2020), CRUK Newcastle Centre (2021) and Newcastle Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (2022) emphasises our optimal position to support and train the next generation of translational clinical researchers, with the ultimate aim of improving treatment and outcomes for cancer patients.

The NCAT programme has two points of entry.

NCAT funding 2019-2023 has supported medical students with full bursaries to complete an intercalated Masters in Cancer Research during their preclinical training.

This cohort of students is currently completing of their undergraduate medicine/Foundation doctor training (including within the established NIHR IAT training programme in Newcastle) and onwards into cancer specialty training.

We are therefore building a community of junior doctors who are supported and mentored as they choose their oncological specialty training route.

We propose to continue with this model to generate a cohort of junior doctors-in-training who have sign-posting and advice to continue on the clinical academic path.

We include within our programme engagement funding to support this junior group to maintain their interest, provide a peer-support network and present their research outputs during internal medicine training.

The second competitive tier of entry to NCAT is during specialty training to allow aspiring clinical academics to obtain a research doctorate, with the alumni being mentored to apply for NIHR Clinical Lecturer positions and subsequent competitive National Fellowships.

Our focus on doctoral training is at this point in the clinical training pathway, given the acknowledged expertise in Newcastle is in translational research and projects in tis area need clinical maturity and access which is not seen at undergraduate level.

In addition, it is this expertise in training translational clinical academics which NCAT brings to the wider CRUK Clinical Academic Training network.

NCAT benefits from having Professor Dave Jones, NHIP-Academic Director and previous Dean of the NIHR Academy, as co-lead.

We therefore provide a clear onwards trajectory for alumni of the programme supported and mentored by both the NHIP-Academy team and also senior cancer researchers in each of our core areas of expertise towards tenure-track positions.

The short-term goals of the programme are to grow and retain our cohort of potential clinical academics and mentor them to obtain competitive fellowships, providing multiple-entry level opportunities for local and external trainees interested in oncology and associated specialties.

The long-term goal is to train the next generation of independent principal investigators working as clinical scientists or translational clinical trialists in cancer research.