{"id":563,"date":"2021-02-10T13:43:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T13:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/?p=563"},"modified":"2021-02-10T13:44:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T13:44:56","slug":"health-professional-researcher-profile-dr-sheila-mcsweeney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/2021\/02\/10\/health-professional-researcher-profile-dr-sheila-mcsweeney\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Professional Researcher Profile: Dr Sheila McSweeney"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_565\" style=\"width: 686px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-565\" class=\"wp-image-565 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Dr Sheila McSweeney\" width=\"676\" height=\"901\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-676x901.jpg 676w, https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2021\/02\/McSweeney-Sheila-HPR-Profile-Photograph-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-565\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr Sheila McSweeney, recent awardee of an NIHR MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcl.ac.uk\/study\/doctoral-studies\/health-sciences-doctoral-training-centre\/health-professional-researchers\">Health Professional Researchers<\/a><\/strong> (HPRs) at King\u2019s include medical doctors, dentists, nurses, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and members of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/ahp\/role\/\">14 allied health professions as outlined on this NHS England webpage<\/a><\/strong>, who are also currently engaged in a period of research training.<\/p>\n<p>HPRs are also sometimes known as <em>Clinical Academic Researchers<\/em>, and this and related terms can refer to pre-doctoral, doctoral, and post-doctoral researchers on a clinical academic pathway at King&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In this blog post we introduce you to one of our Health Professional Researchers at King\u2019s, <a href=\"https:\/\/uk.linkedin.com\/in\/sheila-mc-sweeney-479889b2\">Dr Sheila McSweeney<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sheila was recently awarded an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.guysandstthomasbrc.nihr.ac.uk\/2020\/12\/16\/clinical-fellows-awarded-funding-for-phds\/\">NIHR MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship<\/a><\/strong> which she will be starting in June 2021 (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mrc.ukri.org\/skills-careers\/fellowships\/clinical-fellowships\/clinical-research-training-fellowship-crtf\/\">you can find more information about this particular award here<\/a><\/strong>)<\/li>\n<li>Sheila&#8217;s clinical specialty and stage of clinical training is currently dermatology ST4, and she&#8217;s based at the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcl.ac.uk\/lsm\/research\/divisions\/gmm\/departments\/dermatology\">St. John\u2019s Institute of Dermatology<\/a><\/strong> and the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcl.ac.uk\/bmb\/our-departments\/department-of-medical-molecular-genetics\">Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Her (working) thesis title is <em>Genetic and transcriptomic analyses to determine the aetiopathogenesis of solar urticaria<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Sheila, could you give us a summary of your route into a PhD, including your previous research experience, and how this was funded?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I undertook medical training in my home city in Ireland and was lucky to have opportunities to gain some basic research experience by undertaking laboratory-based projects at home and abroad.<\/p>\n<p>I also took a year out of training to do an intercalated degree in immunology at King\u2019s College London, which was not particularly common at that time.<\/p>\n<p>These experiences gave me insights into clinical and academic medicine in different countries, and inspired me to remain active in both fields throughout my training.<\/p>\n<p>Following graduation, I came to the UK and undertook training in internal medicine and dermatology. I then began to consider opportunities to further develop my research skills and ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>I am very grateful to have received support from a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.guysandstthomasbrc.nihr.ac.uk\/education-training\/fellowships\/2019-brc-clinical-training-fellows-2\/\">BRC Clinical Fellowship<\/a><\/strong>, as this allowed me to take time out from clinical training and provided me with protected research time for 12 months to develop my research proposal and successfully apply for funding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are your long-term ambitions for your clinical academic career?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I hope to use my PhD to explore the pathogenesis of solar urticaria and provide insights that benefit patient care, as the currently available treatments are not particularly effective.<\/p>\n<p>Thereafter, I will complete my clinical training and hope to build a post-doctoral research career exploring aspects of cutaneous allergy, including solar urticaria, other forms of physical urticaria, and contact allergy.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, I aspire to work as both a clinician and an academic with my time divided between both aspects of medicine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What tips would you give to a Health Professional who is starting an out-of-programme research project, such as a PhD or MD(Res)?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps I am being somewhat glib in saying this, but I think being organized is critical as you are master of your own time, while if I were to pick a second piece of advice, I would suggest that being resilient\u2014even to the point of stubbornness\u2014is so important. Everyone will inevitably experience setbacks and it is one\u2019s response and persistence in the face of adversity that is most important.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What support has been most helpful to you in terms of navigating your clinical academic career to date?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking to people who have blazed the trail before you: their experiences are invaluable, and you realise that research is accessible to all and that people will follow varied pathways into and through research.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the most rewarding thing about being a Health Professional Researcher?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think the complementarity of clinical practice and academic research is the most rewarding aspect of being a Health Professional Researcher. Clinical practice inevitably raises unanswered questions, while academia provides you with the skills and tools to answer those questions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health Professional Researchers (HPRs) at King\u2019s include medical doctors, dentists, nurses, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and members of the 14 allied health professions as outlined on this NHS England webpage, who are also currently engaged in a period of research training. HPRs are also sometimes known as Clinical Academic Researchers, and this and related terms can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":829,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,81,79,66,48,78,77,76,80,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-careers","category-clinical-academic-careers","category-clinical-academic-researchers","category-clinicians","category-development","category-dual-careers","category-health-professional-researchers","category-health-professionals","category-research-fellowships","category-training","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/829"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}