Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowship Candidates 2024

Three IBMS members have been accepted into the Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowship programme, which will run 1st March 2024 for 12 months.

NHS England’s National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS), in collaboration with Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS), NIHR Devices for Dignity MedTech Co-operative (D4D), Healthcare Science Cymru, and the Office of the Chief Scientific Officer for NHS England (CSO), announced the results of the Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowship applications on the 20th March 2024

The eight Innovation Fellows in the 2024 cohort include Dr Mark Hajjawi at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals, specialising in Clinical and Biomedical Science; Nicky Hollowood at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, specialising in Point-of-Care Testing (POCT), and Michael Cahillane at the Welsh Blood Service specialising in Transfusion Science.

Dr Mark Hajjawi on what the Fellowship means to him:

"I am very pleased to have been awarded a prestigious Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowship. Research, innovation and development are key to everything a Biomedical Scientist does. I am happy my team within the Scarborough, Hull and York Pathology Service (SHYPS)  have been given this opportunity.  

This award will allow me to focus on reducing some of the healthcare inequalities preventing people from accessing laboratory-based diagnostic tests, especially the faecal immunochemical test (FIT), one of the first steps in diagnosing colorectal cancer. This Fellowship will also give me valuable time to work with commercial partners to develop novel, impactful, future innovative healthcare technologies that will improve people's quality of life.

Over the coming year, I look forward to working closely with a talented group of people within D4D and its partners, SHYPS, and other Healthcare Science Fellows who span a wide range of disciplines."   

Nicky Hollowood's commenting on her fellowship project about the validation of POCT Hemoscreen for FBC in less than three-month-old neonates said:

"Working as a POCT manager, I'm used to working with clinical teams to redesign care pathways and identify ways in which we can make diagnostics more accessible, but this project goes beyond that. The fellowship involves working directly with commercial companies and regulatory bodies to address an ongoing and challenging clinical issue with an innovative solution.

This is an amazing opportunity for both myself and my professional colleagues across Harrogate and District Foundation Trust to utilise our skillset and agility to deliver added value to our wider NHS services. By delivering this research project, we hope that the diagnostic technology can be safely utilised where there is a clear clinical need.

It is a fantastic opportunity for healthcare scientists to make a real difference to our patients and clinical colleagues".

Michael Cahillane, on the benefits he hopes his project about plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMP) supply to European patients will bring to the Welsh Blood Service 

“I’m eager to learn the innovation content and apply what I have learned to my intended project. With a clear focus on the equivalent value of plasma obtained, it has huge potential benefits for the Welsh Blood Service. 

Within Europe over 300,000 people are dependent on PDMPs to improve their quality of life, however demand increasingly outweighs plasma supply.  

The project will perform a number of regulatory assays, and also collate a range of quantitative and qualitative information, which will be analysed and assessed by relevant stakeholders to facilitate a value-based decision for the organisation and inform the subsequent implementation of a novel and routine plasmapheresis collection workstream across Wales. 

 I hope to impart what I learn from this fellowship experience amongst my colleagues to inspire and advance their own innovative ideas whilst ensuring innovation is routinely encompassed within my routine workload and my ongoing contribution to transfusion-based healthcare practices.” 

Congratulations to all successful candidates for this year's Fellowship programme.