Research Fellow in Rheumatology (ST3-5 Equivalent)

Freeman Hospital; Carthage (MO); On-site; USD 67,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Freeman Hospital in the UK is seeking a Research Fellow in Rheumatology (ST3-5 Equivalent) to join a well-integrated team. The role focuses on early phase clinical trials in inflammatory arthritis, with opportunities to pursue independent research and learn procedures such as muscle biopsy and lymph node aspiration.

The post emphasizes teaching, audit and flexible working within the trial protocol, commencing ASAP / November 2026 for 12 months.

Qualifications

• Primary medical qualification and GMC licence to practise.
• Experience in rheumatology and inflammatory arthritis preferred.
• Experience with clinical trials and GCP principles.
• Willingness to contribute to teaching, research and audit.

Responsibilities

• Support the inflammatory arthritis consultant team, primarily for participant identification and recruitment.
• Attend audit and clinical governance meetings.
• Learn relevant practical procedures.
• Coordinate trial data collection and documentation according to GCP.

Skills

GCP knowledge

Consent procedures

Clinical research

Team collaboration

Education

Primary Medical Qualification

Full GMC registration

Intercalated degree

Job description

Education And Qualifications

Essential criteria

Employer heading

Research Fellow in Rheumatology (ST3-5 Equivalent)

NHS Medical & Dental: Local Appointment nodal point 4a (MT04)

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, we're in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job Overview

We are delighted to be able to offer an opportunity for a highly motivated, ambitious individual to join our well integrated team.

The successful candidate will already have experience of the rheumatology speciality and a desire to develop further knowledge and skills in the discipline. In particular they will have significant experience of working with patients with inflammatory arthritis and related conditions. They will be curious with a strong desire to pursue research into these conditions and must be a strong and conscientious team player.

This post is to commence ASAP / November 2026 for 12 months.

In addition to the challenges of the role, we can offer you a commitment to teaching, education, research and audit.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

Main duties of the job

To contribute to a number of early phase clinical trials, including of a novel advanced therapy that is being conducted in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis. The role will involve identification and consenting of participants for the trial, and overseeing trial activities including leukapheresis, administration of test product and follow-up. Another trial involves participants with sarcopenia, testing a novel compound with a potential effect on muscle. There will also be the opportunity to perform some of your own research and to learn interventional procedures such as muscle biopsy and lymph node aspiration.

Working for our organisation

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest, largest and most successful teaching NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 16,000 staff and an annual income of £1 billion. We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.

We're also proud to be the second largest provider of specialised services in the country. This means we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

Our staff oversee around 1.84 million patients contacts each year, delivering high standards of healthcare.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Clinical

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Supporting the inflammatory arthritis consultant team, primarily for participant identification and recruitment
• Attending audit and clinical governance meetings
• Learning relevant practical procedures

Administrative

• Trial-related activities – screening logs, collection and documentation of relevant clinical trial data according to GCP principles

Research

• Achieve GCP certification
• Develop deep understanding of relevant study protocols
• Oversee and co-ordinate ‘end-to-end’ activities in relation to clinical trials – participant identification, screening, consenting and subsequent trial activities.
• Interaction with the sponsor team(s) to co-ordinate trial activities and product administration. Attend investigator calls and complete relevant administrative and trial-related documentation.
• There may be opportunities to develop your own research ideas

Teaching

• Occasional, as required

Flexibility

• Within the requirements of the clinical trial protocol and activities, flexible working is possible in this post.

In line with the Trust’s core value of placing patients at the heart of everything we do, we are developing our service provision to be responsive to the needs of our patients. To meet those needs some staff groups will be increasingly asked to work a more flexible work pattern so that they can offer services in the evening or weekend. As a result any offer of employment to a consultant post will be subject to you agreeing to work a new more flexible pattern or working in the future if required, including evening and weekend work.

Person specification

Education And Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Primary Medical Qualification.
• Full GMC registration with a licence to practise

Desirable criteria

• Intercalated degree, e.g. BSc

Clinical Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Good history & examination skills.
• Able to formulate a working diagnosis.
• Able to order appropriate investigations.
• Image interpretation relevant to practice.
• Knows when to appropriately seek assistance from a senior colleague.
• An understanding of Clinical Governance.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of complex rheumatological conditions
• Experience of practical procedures such as skin biopsy, muscle biopsy, lymph node aspiration, synovial biopsy
• Practical experience of musculoskeletal ultrasound
• Good clinical judgement in stressful situations
• An understanding of advanced therapies

Management and Administration Experience

Essential criteria

• Ability to run a service and participate in management process
• Committed to share in professional, managerial and teaching responsibilities necessary to fulfil the obligations of the Directorate to the Trust and its workforce.
• Strong organisation and project management skills

Desirable criteria

• Proven management and administration ability.
• Understanding of management goals.
• Experience with audit
• Evidence of leadership / project management
• Evidence of having implemented change

Teaching

Essential criteria

• Experience of supervising junior staff.
• Ability to teach clinical skills.

Clinical Governance, Audit and Research

Essential criteria

• Experience of audit projects.

Desirable criteria

• GCP certification
• Understanding of GCP
• Understanding of the fundamentals of clinical trials

Communication, Relationships and Working with Colleagues

Essential criteria

• Ability to communicate and liaise effectively with patients and other people within a team.
• Ability to work as a team with professional colleagues in all disciplines.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to explain complex concepts to both clinical and lay audiences
• Experience of taking consent

Whilst Newcastle Hospitals are a forward thinking and highly innovative organisation, the use of Third-Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity of your individual application or to the recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.