Insights from the clinical immunology community
Research plays a vital role in advancing patient care and improving services; yet many healthcare professionals are unsure how to get involved in research alongside their clinical responsibilities.
To explore how research can be integrated into a range of clinical careers, we spoke to healthcare professionals from across the clinical immunology community. In this video series from the British Society for Immunology Clinical Immunology Professional Network (BSI-CIPN), they discuss the challenges and opportunities of research, tips for getting started, what excites them about their work, and the impact research has had on their professional development, clinical practice and patient care.
Whether you are already involved in research or are considering taking your first steps, we hope these stories demonstrate that research can be embedded into many different roles and career pathways.
The first interview is available below, with more interviews to follow over the coming weeks. Hear how research is helping these professionals improve patient care, develop their careers and contribute to the future of clinical immunology.
Sary Workman: Immunology and Allergy Clinical Nurse Specialist at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
Interview summary
Research experience
Over 20 years in clinical immunology, with experience as a clinical nurse specialist, research nurse, project manager and master's graduate in clinical research.
How research has shaped my practice
Research has strengthened my confidence in new treatments, supported evidence based patient care and helped ensure patients receive the latest therapies available.
Key message
Research should be recognised as a core part of nursing practice, with protected time, support and opportunities for professional development.
Advice for nurses
Don't underestimate your contribution. Whether you're helping to design a study, writing protocols or leading patient facing aspects of research, your work deserves to be recognised.
How research fits into Sary's role
Throughout her nursing career, Sary has combined research with clinical practice, giving her experience across every stage of the research process, from working directly with patients in clinical trials to managing research projects and completing a master's degree in clinical research. This breadth of experience has shown her how research can directly improve patient care and increase confidence in introducing new therapies into routine practice.
Sary believes research should not sit alongside nursing, but within it. By building research into job plans, providing protected time and recognising the professional development it brings, NHS organisations can create an environment where research becomes part of everyday clinical practice. She also highlights that research develops skills beyond the bedside, including critical thinking, leadership and evidence-based practice.
A strong message throughout Sary's interview is that nurses deserve greater recognition for the role they play in research. From writing study protocols and preparing regulatory submissions to leading patient facing elements of research, nurses often make significant contributions that should be acknowledged. For those looking to get started, Sary encourages beginning with a small idea, finding a mentor, involving patients from the outset and making use of the support available through professional networks and research funding opportunities.
Quote
“Don't be afraid to share an idea, even if it feels really small. Often the best way is to start with something manageable and build from there.”
Arnold Awuah: Clinical Scientist Trainee specialising in immunology at GOSH
Interview summary
How my role involves research
Combining routine diagnostic testing with research to improve laboratory services and translate scientific discoveries into clinical care for children with rare immunological conditions.
How research improves patient care
Developing new diagnostic approaches that support clinical decision making, enable more personalised treatment strategies and improve outcomes for children with rare and complex diseases.
What excites me about research
Seeing laboratory findings translate directly into patient care and knowing that research can help give patients a better chance of life.
Biggest challenge
Balancing research alongside routine clinical responsibilities while ensuring both continue to support patient care.
What has made research possible
Support from mentors, academic partnerships, research training and opportunities provided through the NHS.
How research fits into Arnold's role
As a Clinical Scientist Trainee in an immunology laboratory, Arnold combines routine diagnostic testing with research to improve the care provided to children with rare and complex immunological conditions. Working at Great Ormond Street Hospital, he is involved in both delivering diagnostic services and developing new approaches that help translate scientific discoveries into everyday clinical practice.
For Arnold, research is an essential part of the clinical scientist role because it enables laboratory services to continually evolve. By developing and validating new testing strategies, his work can be translated into standard operating procedures that allow the wider laboratory team to adopt new diagnostic methods in routine practice. This not only supports clinicians in making informed treatment decisions, but also helps ensure patients receive more personalised care and improves the quality and consistency of diagnostic services for future patients.
While balancing research alongside a busy clinical workload can be challenging, Arnold highlights the importance of effective time management, collaboration and mentorship in making research possible. He believes clinical scientists are uniquely placed to bridge laboratory science with patient care, ensuring new discoveries are translated into meaningful improvements in healthcare. Looking more broadly, he sees research as the driving force behind many of the most significant advances in modern medicine, from gene therapies to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies. For Arnold, every research project has the potential to contribute to the next breakthrough that transforms and saves patients' lives.
Quote
"Research brings more ideas, which get developed into something extraordinary. From gene therapies to CAR T cell therapies, research has transformed the lives of patients, and it can continue to do so in the future."
Fan Cheng: Principal Pharmacist for Immunology and Immunotherapy at GOSH
Interview summary
Research focus
Using pharmacokinetic modelling to better understand how medicines behave in different patient populations and support more personalised dosing approaches.
What excites me about research
Seeing research findings translate directly into patient care decisions.
Biggest challenge
Finding the time, support and environment needed to balance research alongside clinical responsibilities.
Top tip
Recognise the research opportunities that arise from everyday clinical practice and take the time to document and share your findings.
How research fits into Fan's role
As a pharmacist working in paediatric immunology, Fan's research focuses on understanding how medicines are processed by different patient groups. Children are often underrepresented in clinical trials, meaning healthcare professionals may need to rely on evidence generated in adult populations. Through pharmacokinetic modelling, Fan is able to study how factors such as age, weight, genetics and organ function can influence the way medicines behave, helping to support more tailored treatment approaches for paediatric patients.
A key theme throughout Fan's interview is that research should not be viewed as something separate from clinical practice. Instead, he describes research as a natural extension of day-to-day patient care. Identifying challenges, reflecting on current practice, trialling new approaches and documenting the outcomes are all opportunities to generate evidence that can improve services and patient outcomes.
Fan also highlights the importance of patient and public involvement, ensuring that research questions are shaped by the experiences and priorities of patients and families from the outset. He believes that incorporating research into clinical roles helps healthcare professionals stay engaged with the latest evidence, think more critically about practice and advocate for patient groups that may be underrepresented in existing research.
Quote
"Sometimes when you look for the evidence to do something, you wish someone had done it already. But you can also ask the question, why can't this person be you?"
Lucy Common: Consultant Nurse in Immunology and Allergy at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust and Clinical Advisor for Nursing at NICE
Interview summary
What motivates me
Using research to improve patient care, drive service innovation and ensure nursing practice continues to evolve through evidence based care.
How research has improved my practice
Research has strengthened my critical thinking, encouraged collaborative working and connected me with healthcare professionals across the UK to improve patient care.
Why research matters for nursing
Research empowers nurses to challenge existing practice, lead innovation and ensure patients benefit from the latest evidence based care.
Opportunities research has created
Research has opened opportunities in national leadership, policy, professional networks and the Florence Nightingale Foundation, helping shape healthcare beyond the clinic.
Advice for getting started
Be bold with your ideas, start small and find a mentor who can support and challenge you as your research journey develops.
How research fits into Lucy's role
Throughout her nursing career, Lucy has integrated research into clinical practice, contributing to projects ranging from food allergy research and national patient registries, such as the 100,000 Genomes Project, NIHR BioResource studies, the COVAD (COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases) study, and the RIT (radioimmunotherapy) Registry for Immunotherapy Research. Alongside her clinical role, this experience has strengthened her ability to evaluate evidence, think critically and work collaboratively with colleagues across the NHS to improve patient care.
Lucy believes research is fundamental to modern nursing. By encouraging nurses to question existing practice, think creatively and develop evidence-based solutions, research drives continual improvements in patient care while strengthening leadership, innovation and professional development. She also highlights the need for organisations to recognise research as an essential part of advanced nursing practice, with realistic job planning, protected time and a culture that supports nurses to lead research alongside their clinical responsibilities.
For Lucy, research has also created opportunities far beyond the clinic. Through her Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholarship and her role as Clinical Advisor for Nursing at NICE, she has developed national networks, leadership skills and new perspectives on healthcare that she continues to bring back into clinical practice. Her advice to others is to be ambitious but start small, seek out mentorship, connect with local research networks and create the space to turn good ideas into meaningful improvements for patients and healthcare services.
Quote
"Research empowers nurses to challenge norms, improve patient care and create a culture of bold ideas."
Fatima Dhalla: Consultant Clinical Immunologist and Senior Postdoctoral Scientist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
Interview summary
Research focus
Understanding the biology of the thymus to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare congenital thymic disorders, while exploring how this research could benefit wider patient groups in the future.
What inspired me
A passion for the molecular science behind immunology and the opportunity to answer clinically relevant questions through laboratory research.
What I find most rewarding
Bringing together findings from multiple experiments to build a bigger scientific picture and advance our understanding of the immune system.
Research impact
Helping shape international clinical guidelines, contributing expert advice on rare immunological conditions and improving patient care beyond the clinic.
Career perspective
Research provides variety, flexibility and opportunities to shape the future of clinical immunology through science, teaching, collaboration and policy.
How research fits into Fatima's role
As both a consultant clinical immunologist and senior postdoctoral scientist, Fatima combines clinical practice with laboratory based research to better understand the biology of the thymus and its role in immune function. Her work spans both fundamental and translational research, helping to improve our understanding of rare congenital thymic disorders while exploring how these discoveries could influence the diagnosis and treatment of more common conditions in the future.
For Fatima, research is a natural extension of clinical practice. Alongside caring for patients, she designs and conducts complex laboratory experiments, collaborates with researchers across the world, supervises teaching, publishes scientific papers and contributes to international clinical working groups and guideline development. This enables her research to influence patient care on a national and international scale, particularly for rare conditions where evidence is still emerging.
Fatima believes research offers consultant clinical immunologists a unique opportunity to combine scientific discovery with patient care. With a deep understanding of both the underlying mechanisms of disease and the challenges faced by patients with rare conditions, clinical immunologists are well placed to identify the questions that matter most and translate new discoveries into meaningful improvements in diagnosis, treatment and clinical practice. She also highlights the breadth of opportunities research can bring, from teaching and collaboration to leadership and influencing future policy and practice.
Quote
"Clinical immunologists are best placed to tackle the most clinically and scientifically relevant questions for our patient cohorts."
Ready to take your first steps into research?
Research can be integrated into a wide range of clinical roles and career stages. Whether you're looking to develop a new project, build research skills or explore an area of interest, support is available to help you get started.
BSI Career Enhancing Grant
The BSI Career Enhancing Grant supports members looking to undertake activities that will enhance their career development, including research focused opportunities.
If you've been inspired to get involved in research please email CIPN@immunology.org to discuss this further.