Specialist neurological rehabilitation physiotherapist Dr Lauren Lucas is the perfect advocate for NCA’s Centre for Clinical and Care Research (CCR).
From receiving advice and support from the team as she advanced her research career, she’s now been appointed as a clinical research fellow herself. Her part-time six-month post will see her supporting career development for fellow allied health professionals and nurses through research.
Dr Lucas, who also works in Bury’s community stroke and neuro rehab team, says the support she received from Professor Heather Iles-Smith and Dr Claire Howard at the CCR was hugely helpful to her NIHR pre-doctoral clinical and practitioner academic fellowship (PCAF) for early career researchers, and her Stroke Association funded PhD.
Her appointment follows on from the successful completion of her PhD and then a MAHSC clinical fellowship to develop guidance for healthcare professionals on the way they work with stroke survivors as they learn to manage their own recovery and rehabilitation.
She’s keen to help others navigate the many routes and opportunities available and to share her and the team’s enthusiasm for research to improve care and provide evidence for best practice.
She said: “Navigating a clinical academic career is rarely straightforward or easy. Having someone who has been through the same challenges and can relate to your experience makes all the difference – it makes you feel less alone and fuels your motivation to keep going.”