Senior Clinical Research Fellow in HIV and Infectious Diseases

The postholder will provide day-to-day support for ongoing clinical trials and other studies. Their overall supervision will be directed by Prof Burns, but on a day-to-day basis, they will work primarily with HIV and Vaccine clinical trial research teams. The postholder will be central to the effective running of the wider group. Due to the fluctuating nature of clinic visits for clinical research, an exact breakdown of percentage time spent on different duties is not possible. However, it is anticipated that the successful applicant will undertake 3-4 clinical trial clinics per week, seeing patients participating in clinical trials as per trial protocol.

Outside of these responsibilities, it is expected that the post-holder will develop their own clinical research project and participate in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. If they do not already hold a higher degree, creating pilot data or applying for fellowships to register for a PhD would be encouraged. The clinical research project(s) should focus on HIV, infectious diseases, STIs, or related conditions and will be conducted under the guidance and supervision of senior academic staff.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Support ongoing clinical trials and other studies on a day-to-day basis.
2. Participate in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching activities.
3. Develop and lead own clinical research projects.
4. Under consultant supervision, be responsible for the clinical care of patients attending the HIV/ID service, including those participating in clinical trials, liaising with colleagues to ensure the best standard of care.
5. Participate in the HIV/ID on-call rota (optional and subject to experience).

The HIV service at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust is recognized as an international Centre of Excellence for HIV care. It serves the inpatient and outpatient needs of over 3,000 people with HIV and has the largest cohort of women with HIV in the country. The department offers specialist clinics in viral hepatitis, TB, cardiology, renal disease, rheumatology, ageing and frailty, chronic fatigue, lipid disorders, AIN, gynaecology, and psychiatry. For stable patients on medication, e-clinics are in place, led by doctors and nurses.

The department is actively developing links with clinical colleagues across the North Central London Network. It has a dedicated research team and participates in numerous clinical trials, including those for new antivirals, primary HIV infections, and questionnaire-based studies.

Recently, the Royal Free established a dedicated vaccine trial research team, which successfully delivered large-scale COVID-19 vaccine trials. This team has upcoming large-scale vaccine trials (Phase 1-3) and others on the horizon. The post-holder will support the delivery and oversight of these trials.

For further details or informal visits, contact:

Name: Prof Fiona Burns
Job Title: Professor of Epidemiology & HIV; HIV Clinical Lead
Email: f.burns@ucl.ac.uk
Telephone: 02077940500