Three new appointments to progress Academic Primary and Community Care
Wednesday October 9, 2024
The new Academic Primary and Community Care Unit (APCCU) is a virtual unit hosted by Newcastle Health Research Partnership (NHIP) Academy. It brings together leading experts within primary and community care systems with a goal of building research capacity within academic primary care. The overall vision of the unit is to grow primary care research in the region by bringing together the growing mass of expertise that already exists in both clinical and medical education research.
A key aim of the unit is to work alongside the NHIP Academy to enhance the future clinical academic workforce. A part of this work will be to establish an academic primary care pathway for other future clinical academics within the area.
Dr Eugene Tang
Dr Eugene Tang, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Lecturer leads the new NHIP Academy APCCU. His role is to support the academy in developing future academics in primary and community care.
Dr Tang said:
“This unit has the potential to create significant clinical and educational research opportunities for all clinical colleagues in the primary care team. We are fortunate that we can build on the success that already exists in the North East and will draw upon this expertise.
“We are optimistic that the outputs generated from this unit, whether that is the development of individuals or research, will ultimately benefit patient care and patient journeys in the clinical pathway within our region and beyond.”
Dr Tang’s role will be supported by Dr Amy Brown, NHIP Academy Manager, Dr Helen Jarvis, NIHR Clinical Lecturer, Dr Shona Haining, Head of Research & Evidence NECS and Hilary Allan, Head of Out of Hospital Research, RDN. The North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB) Research Capability Funding (RCF) and the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN), have provided the resource for this growth.
Dr Uche Anyanwagu
Three General Practitioners (GPs) were identified to receive placements. Dr Uche Anyanwagu, Dr Rhiannon De Ivey and Dr Khalifa Mohammed, who are at various stages of their own academic development in both clinical and education research, will play a key role in the progression of the unit.
Dr Uche Anyanwagu said:
“As a GP and Clinical Epidemiologist, my main goal is to see this unit transform to a one-stop hub where patient-based research would breed better health outcomes for all citizens in our communities.”
Dr Rhiannon De Ivey
Dr Rhiannon De Ivey said:
“I have a passion for both medical education and research and hope to explore how we can enhance learning and improve outcomes for general practice and our future doctors.”
Dr Khalifa Mohammed said:
“My goal is to work with the team at the unit to produce high quality research that will provide evidence-based solutions to primary care challenges and improve overall health outcomes “.
Dr Khalifa Mohammed
The GPs, alongside Dr Tang, will work closely with the leadership team to engage with key stakeholders to formally launch the APCCU in 2025.
They will focus on mapping out the existing clinical academics across all professional groups within primary care teams across the region in both education and clinical research. Recognising the expanding membership of the primary care team, they will also support key professionals such as practice pharmacists and nursing colleagues who are interested in clinical and educational research.
To simplify the process of identifying appropriate professional advice, the unit hopes to showcase the existing methodological and topic expertise of members in the region. This is to enable colleagues to easily determine potential mentors, supervisors and collaborators.
Dr Amy Brown, NHIP Academy Operations Manager, said:
“Research not only improves patient care and outcomes but also recruitment and retention of the clinical workforce. We believe one way to improve ‘care closer to home’ is by increasing research capacity and activity across all professions in primary and community care.
“We are excited by the opportunities the development of the APCCU brings and are committed to using our resources to help build credible academic career pathways in primary care. We welcome Dr Anyanwagu, Dr De Ivey and Dr Mohammed to the NHIP Academy Community and are looking forward to supporting their career development.”
If you would like further information or to get involved with the new unit, contact: nhip.academy@ncl.ac.uk
Sign up to the mailing list and to join the APCCU here.