The Emerging Clinical Researchers (ECRs) Workshop is open to all and we encourage all levels to the meeting. The Workshop provides a vital opportunity to focus on practical themes as part of in-depth conversations. We have again put together a very exciting programme for the Emerging Clinical Researchers Workshop focussing on the pathways and networks which will support you as an ECR. 

2025 ECR Workshop Programme

09:00-10:30

NAVIGATING CLINICAL ACADEMIC

09:00-09:10

Welcome

Dr Emily Watts

Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow, University of Edinburgh

Dr Emily Watts APAM 2025

Dr Emily Watts

09:10-09:30

Challenges and opportunities for academic training in IMT

 

Dr Helen Devine

Newcastle University, Clinical NUAcT Fellow and Honorary
Consultant Neurologist

Helen Devine APAM 2025
Dr Helen Devine

09:30-10:00

How the MRC are supporting early career clinical researchers

 

Prof. Patrick Chinnery

Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council

Prof. Patrick Chinnery.

10:00-10:30

Digital health skills for effective clinical research

 

Dr Shera Chok

GP, NHS. Founder and Chair, The Shuri Network. NED, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust. National Lead for Community Settings, NIHR

APAM 2025
Dr Shera Chok

10:30-10:45

AoP Mentoring Programme

 

Prof. Sarah Walmsley

AoPGBI Executive Committee Member and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Edinburgh

 

Dr Maisha Jabeen

Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine and Oxford MRC DTP Clinical Research Fellow

Prof. Sarah Walmsley
Dr Maisha Jabeen

10.:45-11:10

Break

11:10-12:30

PATIENT CENTRED CLINICAL RESEARCH – CLINCIAL TRIALS AND PATIENT COHORTS

11:10-11:30

Trials and tribulations in TB Vaccine R&D

 

Prof. Helen McShane

Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford

Prof. Helen McShane

11:30-11:50

Using patient cohorts to define and harness protective immunity

Prof Mala Maini

Professor of Viral Immunology, University College London

Mala Maini

Prof. Mala Maini

11:50-12:20

Clinical experience and patient involvement in advances in mitochondrial diseases

 

Prof. Sir Doug Turnbull

Emeritus Professor of Neurology Newcastle University

Prof. Sir Doug Turnbull

12:20-12:30

Questions and wrap up

The 2024 Workshop, was incredibly well received. Please read on for more information.

A morning of Emerging Clinical Researchers was hosted by global experts in the world of translational medicine.

Professor Sir Adrian Hill and Professor Marian Knight MBE provided an incredible kickstart to APAM by speaking on career development and policies as a researcher.

As the day progressed, our ECRs found inspiration in networking with others and motivation in mentoring opportunities with the North East England Mentoring Organisation (NEMO).

The morning was rounded off with short talks from top professors and experts, aiming to support our ECRs in their careers as clinical academics.

Our ECR workshop was concluded by an engaging roundtable discussion, where all insights were welcomed and encouraged.

Researchers preparing for APAM 2025 Abstract Submission
Abstract Submissions Closed
APAM 2025 Registration
Dr Emily Watts APAM 2025

Dr Emily Watts

Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow, University of Edinburgh

I am a respiratory physician and Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career development fellow based in Edinburgh. My research interests are in understanding the molecular mechanisms which underpin neutrophilic inflammatory lung disease. Using air pollution as a model of inflammation my fellowship is focused on how neutrophils sense and respond to inflammatory and metabolic cues in the environment and how this drives neutrophil synthetic and inflammatory capacity.

Professor Sir Doug Turnbull

Emeritus Professor of Neurology Newcastle University

Sir Doug Turnbull is Emeritus Professor of Neurology, Newcastle University (UK). Professor Turnbull was Director of the Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research and Director of the MRC Centre for Ageing and Vitality. He was the clinical lead for the NHS Highly Specialised Service for Rare Mitochondrial Diseases of Adults and Children.

Professor Turnbull’s research focused on understanding the role of mitochondria in health and disease. This has led to a new understanding of the importance and complexity of mitochondrial DNA disease, the development of a novel method to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial DNA disease (mitochondrial donation).

Mala Maini

Professor Mala Maini

Professor of Viral Immunology, University College London

Mala Maini is a Professor of Viral Immunology in the Institute of Immunity and Transplantation, Division of Infection and Immunity at UCL, London and an Honorary Consultant Physician in the viral hepatitis clinic. Her lab studies adaptive immunity to hepatitis B, liver cancer and SARS-CoV-2 to inform the development of immunotherapies and vaccines for these major causes of morbidity and mortality. Through access to well-characterised patient cohorts, human tissue samples and models, their studies provide insights into beneficial and dysfunctional T and B cell responses. The lab is particularly interested in dissecting and harnessing tissue-resident immunity for frontline sentinel surveillance of viruses and cancer.  Mala enjoys mentoring and supporting her lab members to obtain fellowships and develop their careers. Work in the Maini lab is funded by Wellcome (including Mala’s Investigator Award), UKRI, Cancer Research UK, ERC Horizon 2020 and the Royal Free Charity.
 

Professor Helen McShane

Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford

Helen McShane FRCP, PhD, FMedSci is Director, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre; Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford; Deputy Head, Medical Sciences Division and an Honorary Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases.
Since 2001, Helen has lead the TB vaccine research group at the University of Oxford, and has expertise in vaccine design through to phase IIb efficacy testing. She led the development of the first candidate TB vaccine to enter efficacy testing, and now works on alternate routes of delivery and the development of controlled human infection models for TB and SARS CoV2.

Prof. Sarah Walmsley

AoPGBI Executive Committee Member and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Edinburgh

I am a Professor of Respiratory Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Honorary Consultant Physician, NHS Lothian and Co-Director of the Edinburgh Clinical Academic Training Scheme.  I undertook my medical training at the University of Edinburgh graduating in 1997, and an MRC training fellowship at the University of Cambridge with award of my PhD in 2004.  My specialist training in Respiratory Medicine was in Sheffield, where I also held a Welcome Intermediate Fellowship, prior to my move to Edinburgh as a Welcome Senior Clinical Fellow.  During this time, I had two periods of maternity leave.  I am currently based in the Centre for Inflammation Research in the Institute for Regeneration and Repair in Edinburgh.  My work is focused on understanding how local oxygen and nutrient availability in the inflamed environment can reprogram neutrophil behaviour in both acute and chronic inflammatory lung disease states.

APAM 2025

Dr Shera Chok

GP, NHS
Founder and Chair, The Shuri Network
NED, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust
National Lead for Community Settings, NIHR

Shera Chok is a GP in the NHS and is the former Chief Medical Officer at NHS Digital. She is an experienced national clinical leader who has worked at Board and Director levels since 2000 and has led the redesign and implementation of new models of care, digital innovation, clinical governance, workforce and leadership development at national and local levels.
She started the award-winning national Shuri Network in 2019 as she is passionate about increasing diversity, innovation and safety and to encourage other women from minority ethnic groups to lead and engage with digital transformation.
She has been recognised as an AI Visionary by the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Health Innovation Network & Department of Health and Social Care in 2025 and won the Zenith Global Health Special Recognition Award in 2023. She was awarded the prestigious Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship by the Robert Bosch Foundation in 2023 and won the HSJ Race Equality Award winner in 2021 with the Shuri Network.
She advised ministers as a member of the NHS Independent Reconfiguration Panel for seven years and worked at Barts Health, the largest acute hospital trust in the NHS as Director of Primary Care for six years, helping to improve patient pathways across organisational boundaries.
Shera has volunteered as a clinician in countries including Sudan, Laos, Indonesia and Greece with NGOs working in war and disaster zones and with displaced populations. She studied at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health on an NHS executive leadership programme. She has completed an M.B.A., M.A. in Inter-professional Education and a Nuffield Trust Fellowship on cross-organisational learning with Sunderland Athletic Football Club.

Helen Devine APAM 2025

Dr Helen Devine

Newcastle University, Clinical NUAcT Fellow and Honorary
Consultant Neurologist

Dr Helens Bio coming soon

Professor Patrick Chinnery

Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council

Patrick Chinnery is Professor of Neurology at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. He runs a combined clinical and laboratory research programme based in the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit and has been supported by Wellcome since 1995 including a Principal Research Fellowship. He is known for his expertise in rare inherited diseases that affect the nervous system. His lab has been studying the genetic basis of mitochondrial disorders for over two decades, harnessing the power of whole genome sequencing and developing new treatments through experimental medicine and early phase trials. He jointly chairs the NIHR BioResource for Translational Research in Common and Rare diseases, is Executive Chair of the UK Medical Research Council and life sciences lead for UK Research and Innovation.