Oxford Deanery Postgraduate School Of

HEALTH EDUCATION ENGLAND - THAMES VALLEY: Academic Clinical Fellowship in Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) posts have been awarded by the NIHR to University/NHS Trust/LETB partnerships nationally through a formula mechanism and by competition. These posts form part of the NIHR Integrated Training Pathway, further details of which can be found on the NIHR TCC website http://www.nihrtcc.nhs.uk .

The aim of the Oxford ACF programme in Women’s Health is to provide clinical and academic training in a world-class research environment to doctors who wish to develop careers in academic Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

The successful candidate for this 3 year ACF post, which attracts an NTN (A), may choose from a wide range of research opportunities in the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (NDOG) or focus on an area of post-doctoral research in the case of candidates with an existing higher degree.

For trainees who do not have a higher degree, the major academic milestones will be acquiring research skills and preliminary data, leading to an application early in the third year for DPhil funding in a specific research area. Those who already have a higher degree would be expected to apply for a Clinical Lectureship at the end of their appointment.

Health Education Thames Valley will provide the clinical training, while research will take place within the NDOG and/or a collaborating department or research institute in Oxford. Protected time will be provided in three month blocks every year for dedicated, full-time research without any clinical commitments.

Please note: for 2016, in addition to the academic interviews, candidates will be required to attend and pass a clinical interview for the specialty they are applying to for academic training, if appropriate. Offers made will therefore be conditional upon meeting the required standard in the clinical interview. Please check the FAQs (http://www.oxforddeanery.nhs.uk/pdf/2015 Applicant NIHR ACF FAQs.pdf) on the HETV website for more information.

For further details, please contact:

Stephen Kennedy Professor of Reproductive Medicine & Head of Department Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology University of Oxford, The Women’s Centre John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU

01865 221003 [email protected] September 2015

1/4 About Health Education Thames Valley

We are the Local Education and Training Board (LETB) for Thames Valley covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Our vision is to ensure the delivery of effective workforce planning and excellent education and training to develop a highly capable, flexible and motivated workforce that delivers improvements in health for the population of Thames Valley. Thames Valley LETB is responsible for the training of around 2000 Foundation and Specialty trainees.

Health Education Thames Valley (HETV) is a relatively small organisation with a defined geographical area which serves as a single unit of application. In the majority of cases successful candidates will be asked to preference their choice of location for either one or two years. Some programmes will require successful candidates to indicate a location and specialty. Future placements will usually be based on individual training and educational needs. Please note that applications are to the Health Education Thames Valley as a whole. This may mean that you may be allocated to any geographic location within HETV depending on training needs.

ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

The ACF programme in Women’s Health is based in The Women’s Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, which cares for >7,000 pregnant women and >9,000 new gynaecology patients per year. It is also a tertiary centre for feto-maternal medicine, pre-natal diagnosis, endometriosis, reproductive medicine, IVF and gynaecological oncology.

Research facilities and lab space are within the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (NDOG), which benefits from a strong combination of clinical practice and basic science to inform its research, teaching and clinical expertise. NDOG research groups are also based in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Institute of Reproductive Sciences and within the Oxford Tropical Medicine Network. However, ACFs can also work with research groups in other departments in the University.

The programme benefits considerably from being incorporated into the Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School (OUCAGS), which was founded in partnership with the Oxford Deanery and NHS Education South Central to promote and advance clinical academic careers. Oxford’s world-leading biomedical and clinical research environment offers outstanding opportunities to combine comprehensive clinical, academic and research training for those with the ambition and motivation to shape the future of medicine (www.oucags.ox.ac.uk ).

The clinical training will rotate through any of the Trusts across health Education Thames Valley, including the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Each ACF has 3 months of protected time per year for research, without any clinical commitments. In some cases, ACFs have been able to merge two blocks to give an uninterrupted period of 6 months’ research.

From the time of appointment, each ACF is attached to an academic supervisor who has regular meetings with the trainee and his/her clinical supervisor. A committee consisting of academic and clinical representatives manages the overall programme. Academic milestones focus on developing generic research methods in Year 1 moving to preliminary work in Year 2 to support the submission of an application for peer-reviewed funding in Year 3. The milestones set are strongly influenced by the standards laid out in the 'Gold Guide' and the need to attain the relevant clinical competencies.

2/4 The trainees are given considerable support to help them identify a research opportunity that they wish to pursue within NDOG. Thereafter, a continuous assessment process and mentorship over the programme, with input from peers, colleagues and senior academics, maximises the chances of the trainees developing a successful higher degree training fellowship or award.

The research activities, which are outlined at http://www.obs-gyn.ox.ac.uk, include:

 Placental function and screening methods for pre-eclampsia/IUGR using biomarkers (Manu Vatish) and ultrasound (Sally Collins)  Fetal and newborn growth (INTERGROWTH-21st team)  Fetal monitoring (Antoniya Georgieva & Aris Papageorghiou)  Immunology of pregnancy (Ingrid Granne)  Maternal HIV and perinatal outcomes (Joris Hemelaar)  Gynaecological oncology (Ahmed Ahmed)  Genetic epidemiology of endometriosis (Krina Zondervan, Karin Hellner & Christian Becker)  Functional MRI studies in pelvic pain (Katy Vincent)  Reproductive Medicine & IVF (Christian Becker, Tim Child & Enda McVeigh)  Oocyte function (Suzannah Williams)  Sperm function (Kevin Coward)  Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (Dagan Wells)

Rotation Information

Many of the ACF posts will be based at the John Radcliffe Hospital. However, rotations may at times change in response to clinical need from the Trusts. The Trusts involved in training in O&G across HETV are:

 Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust o (John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton Hospital sites)  Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS  Frimley Hospitals (Wexham Park)  Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading  Milton Keynes Hospital

We make every effort to keep trainees in the same unit during their transition from ST2 to ST3.

Trust Information

More information about individual Trusts is available on the HETV website http://www.oxforddeanery.nhs.uk/specialty_schools/school_of_obstetrics__gynae/hospital_infor mation.aspx

3/4 Teaching

Trainees have the opportunity to attend local and regional teaching. AT ST 1 / 2 level, regional teaching occurs across a whole day bimonthly. At ST 3-5 level, there is a weekly half day protected for teaching, plus a bimonthly regional study day.

Further Information

For further information about the clinical aspects of this post, please contact:

Rebecca Black Head of School of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Health Education Thames Valley Secretary: Linda Fletcher 01865 222969 [email protected]