Building a career in research as an allied health professional
In a new series of digital stories, allied health professionals (AHPs) at Barts Health describe their journeys to becoming clinical academics, the challenges they’ve faced and what it has meant for their work with patients.
A clinical academic is a health professional who combines patient care with research and, often, teaching, usually splitting their time between the NHS and a university.
In 2023, major UK research funders made it a priority to widen who can build a clinical academic career, including more funding for AHP-led research. Progress has been made, but many AHPs still face challenges including securing protected research time, finding clear routes to progress and managing joint NHS and university posts alongside clinical work. For some, these become too significant a barrier.
Policies and funding matter, but they can overlook the experiences of the people behind them. That is why health services researcher and physiotherapist Prof Katie Sheehan led the ‘Clinical Academics: Allied Health Professional Digital Stories’ project with colleagues at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Lancashire.
Collaborating with a freelance creative practitioner, they helped AHP clinical academics, and those in training, tell their own stories. The aims were to celebrate the impact of AHP-led research on patients, families and carers, make clinical academic careers more visible to AHPs, and support the case for clearer career pathways.
Prof Katie Sheehan, professor of rehabilitation at Queen Mary University of London and Honorary Professor of Rehabilitation at the Dept of Therapies, Whipps Cross Hospital, said:
The digital stories were developed to address a lack of diversity in the visible leadership of clinical academia and further conversations around equitable access to this career path. For Barts Health, that visibility has a particularly local dimension with three colleagues represented in the national collection. This provides tangible examples of AHP clinical academic careers across the Trust and complements Barts Health's stated emphasis on leaders acting as role models and sustaining excellence in research and innovation.
To mark AHPs Day 2026, we’ve spotlighted three of our Barts Health colleagues among the AHPs featured, to show what a research career can look like in practice.
My research and my clinical work are intrinsically linked and embedded within the other, with this having a very clear and positive impact on my clinical approach and my research areas of focus.
Dr Rhian Milton-Cole is a senior clinical research fellow at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre: Barts and a physiotherapist at Whipps Cross Hospital. With the support of a very engaged manager, she kept working clinically part-time through her PhD, and now splits her time 50/50 between research and patient care.
Watch Rhian’s story on the CATCH website.
I also hope to inspire other people who are allied health professionals, or beyond that, who have a frustration or something that they think could be better in clinical practice.
Jessica Pawson is a physiotherapist at Whipps Cross Hospital and a PhD student funded through the Wellcome HARP Doctoral Training Partnership. Working across north east London, she saw patients whose needs were not reflected in the research. A pre-doctoral fellowship through the NIHR led to her PhD on how to better support people who are often excluded from research.
Watch Jessica’s story on the CATCH website.
Clinical academia shouldn't be the privilege of a few, but a pathway for all clinicians and practitioners asking the questions patients, families and services need answering.
Dr Hortensia Gimeno is a clinical reader in child health at Queen Mary University of London, a paediatric occupational therapist and an NIHR Advanced Fellow. She began her PhD 13 years ago because there was so little evidence to help children and young people with dystonia movement disorders. In September, Hortensia was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, the highest honour the College can bestow on its professional members.
Watch Hortensia’s story on the CATCH website.
The digital stories, supported by the UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship Development Network, are now available on the Clinical Academic Training and Careers Hub (CATCH) website, which has more information and resources for AHPs interested in research.