Trust staff appointed as research fellow for the National Institute for Health Research 

1 June 2018

Following a competitive application and interview process, Dr Raha West, specialty doctor in anaesthetic and intensive care at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, has been successfully appointed as a research fellow for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN): Thames Valley and South Midlands (TV&SM).

Raha is the trust’s first NIHR LCRN research fellow.

Raha said: “I'm humbled by the opportunity for a professional development in research and also the chance to promote research ethos to the perioperative, pain and intensive care division at Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust. It will give me the capacity and the capability to expand research for the department while at the same time improving patient care and experience.

“Buckinghamshire Healthcare has a vast throughput of patients, and one of the aims of the trust is to be able to give all of our patients the opportunity to be involved in research. This will lead to a positive outcome for our patients.”

The scheme is designed to allow time to develop into a research leader with good knowledge and insight into the research process. This will in turn build future research capacity in the NHS whilst supporting and developing recruitment into NIHR portfolio studies.

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Fellowships will support individuals with the potential and on a trajectory to become future leaders in NIHR research. The Fellowships have been designed to support people at various points of their development to become leading researchers, from initial pre-doctoral training to senior post-doctoral research.

The post is funded equally between CRN Thames Valley and South Midlands.