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Training

At the core of all our activities is our training programme to support the development of the next generation of leaders in experimental medicine, paediatric rheumatology, and musculoskeletal disorders.

Training

Our EATC4Children-led training programme includes medical students, paediatric trainees, Paediatric Rheumatology Trainees (including GRID Trainees), NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer/Fellows/Foundation doctors, NHS researchers (clinicians and non-medical healthcare professionals) as well as our translational scientists.

We continue to proactively support and mentor these individuals, from undergraduate to postdoctoral scientists and an increasing number of tenure tracked fellows who we have been mentored carefully to help them secure these key career positions as translational scientists working in the field of paediatric autoimmune/autoinflammatory conditions. We have been successful in encouraging their involvement in research and scholarship projects aligned with EATC4Children's objectives. We continue to support PhD, MRes and MPhil students.

The EATC4Children has hosted four Masters students over the past year (Armstrong, Ahmed, Shran, Starczewska). Two of which have successfully completed and submitted their thesis with the remaining ongoing.

Doctoral Students

The EATC4Children currently supports six PhD students (Pain, Preston, Davies, Ging, McGrath, Zhang). We continue to work hard towards securing funding for additional doctoral studentships, although securing funding for such posts is currently particularly challenging.

We are continuing to support two of our senior team (Pain and Preston) is their own PhD studentships:

  • Clare Pain has applied to the University of Liverpool for a prior publication PhD that has been accepted, and secured funding to undertake this from Alder Hey Children’s Charity. She is currently continuing to work on completing this.
  • Jenny Preston: Her thesis is based upon “Developing a best-practice participation framework with and for children and young people involved in the design and conduct of clinical studies”. During this period, she has collected most of her data, written extensive parts of her thesis, and secured ethical approval for the last part of her qualitative research.

Examples of other current studentships focused on translational science include:

  • Yujia Zhang: A self-funded PhD student working under the supervision of Prof Hedrich and Dr Charras. Her project focuses on the IFIH1 loss of function variants, and its relation to JSLE associated immunodeficiency.
  • Georgia McGrath: Following our success in securing funding from the NIHR GOSH BRC and the Alder Hey Children’s Charity, she is undergoing a PhD in CNO, focusing on how P2RX7 mutations affect osteoclast formation (supervision: Prof Hedrich and Dr Charras).
  • Hannah Ging: Supervised by Dr Chetwynd and Dr Oni, her project is titled “Proteomics based dried biofluid analysis
  • Elin Davies: Elin’s clinical PhD is based around the GLOM-OMIC study within our renal inflammation programme. This is a prospective cohort study recruiting children and adults diagnosed with glomerulonephritis. Using proteomic and metabolomic techniques she is exploring the cardiovascular risk associated with this inflammatory condition.

Post-doctoral Research Associates

We currently employ six postdocs, three who are laboratory-based and three who are health data scientists (Sposito, McClurg, Cusin, Brown, Mee, Alvez), as well as one Research Associate (Sarker).

  • Francesca Sposito completed her PhD with the EATC4Children during this period and moved on to a postdoc position investigating how different gene mutations in children with Lupus influence their susceptibility to viruses and inflammatory responses, with the goal of guiding individualised therapies. She is furthermore involved in a project investigating differences in transcriptional profiles of immune and stroma cells between children and adults with lupus nephritis.
  • Oliver McClurg joined us to support the MRC / VA CLUSTER Consortium and continues now to work on projects investigating epigenetic and transcriptional signatures in immune and stroma cell subsets of patients with psoriatic JIA and differential diagnoses.
  • Lola Cusin is involved in a project investigating differences in transcriptional profiles of immune and stroma cells between children and adults with lupus nephritis. She also supports a project investigating how Toll-like receptor 7 variants impact cellular stress levels and inflammation to determine whether they may be used for JSLE patient stratification.
  • Joe Brown has joined us working within the renal inflammation programme and is investigating novel biomarkers to detect early-stage development of nephritis related to IgA vasculitis. He is supporting this with cell based mechanistic studies to also better understand disease development.
  • Lauren Mee joined us through our work with the Paediatric Excellence Initiative (GOSH BRC) and joint working with the Computational Biology Facility (CBF) at the University and is involved in projects investigating how epigenetic signatures contribute to gene expression profiles of immune cells from patients with various autoimmune/inflammatory diseases. Lauren is key to building a sustained relationship between the UoL CBF and the EATC4Children to develop computational biology platforms for the investigation of pathomechanisms in systemic autoimmune/inflammatory diseases.
  • Flavia Alvez is a postdoctoral data scientist analysing data from well-established paediatric lupus research cohorts in several countries as part of our Global JSLE T2T programme, integrating clinical and biomarker information to better understand how treat-to-target strategies influence disease flares and long-term outcomes.
  • Chandni Sarker is a Research Associate who is working on multiple projects with Dr Eve Smith focused on childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE), including statistical validation of paediatric treat-to-target (T2T) endpoints by comparing them to adult-specific targets and evaluating differences in disease control.

Tenured Track Fellow positions

We continue to support all our post-doctoral research associates in their career pathway to become independent translational scientists working in the field. Our success in supporting those securing tenured tracked positions demonstrates the EATC4Children’s continued strength and commitment in training the next generation of experimental medicine translational academics.

  • Dr Amandine Charras is the third member of the EATC4Children who has been successful in securing a competitively awarded Tenure-Track Fellow position at the University of Liverpool during this period. Her research is focused on the molecular pathophysiology of CNO, with the aim of developing diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and identifying new therapeutic targets. She is furthermore supporting the laboratory programme investigating molecular pathomechanisms in SLE and currently co-supervising 2 of our PhD students.

Our two former postdoctoral researchers (Dr Carlsson, Dr Chetwynd) who were successful just prior to our last reporting period to be competitively awarded Tenure-Track Fellow positions at the University continue to work closely within the EATC4Children:

  • Dr Andy Chetwynd focuses on the development of bottom-up proteomics and glycomics in the context of kidney disease and the use of at home micro sampling to reduce barriers to inclusion. Since September 2023 he has developed an LC-MS/MS method for the analysis of released Nglycans from the IgG immunoglobulin in collaboration with Waters (a mass spectrometry company) and other colleagues in ILCAMS - this method is now ready to be applied to clinical kidney cases to investigate how the N-glycome changes as disease progresses. Andy has applied for several UKRI and charity grants and obtained over ￡1 million in funding, including his KRUK personal fellowship. He is currently supervising one our EATC4Children PhD students (Hannah Ging) and has published 10 papers and 1 white paper on health inequalities in basic science with KRUK which was discussed in parliament.
  • Dr Emil Carlsson was appointed tenure track fellow and lecturer in ocular inflammation at the Department of Eye and Vision Science, University of Liverpool in 2023. He has continued his research in exploring the underlying molecular mechanisms of autoimmune inflammatory diseases and identification of novel biomarkers.

Clinical Trainees

The EATC4Children welcomes and supports many clinical trainees and fellows. Some examples include:

  • Dr Eve Smith - Senior Clinical Fellow and Honorary Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist, University of Liverpool & Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Smith has been part of the EATC4Children from the outset, initially as a clinical PhD student and subsequently as a National Institute for Healthcare Research Academic Clinical Lecturer (2017-23).

As an NIHR ACL, Eve has developed the TARGET LUPUS research programme which ultimately aims to develop and test a Treat-to-Target (T2T) approach for JSLE (see above). In March 2023, Eve was appointed to a Senior Clinical Fellow and Honorary Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist post (University of Liverpool & Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust) which enabled her to continue her internationally recognised research programme (spending 50% of her time on research and 50% on clinical work). In collaboration with the International cSLE T2T Task Force, with support from the MRF Emerging Lupus Leaders Prize (see above), Eve has been proactively working towards development of a national Bayesian trial of Treat to Target in cSLE. She is leading the cSLE T2T Global study, bringing together international cSLE datasets from the UK, US, France and Switzerland (largest cSLE dataset in the world), winning the EULAR FOREUM Clinical Abstract Award for this work in 2025. In May 2025 she moved to the University of Glasgow to continue her academic career as a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Rheumatology. In her new role she will continue to be part of and work closely with the EATC4Children, extending our research to Scotland.

  • Dr Eve Roberts, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow: The EATC4Children has hosted a ST2-3 colleague who joined the laboratory for 6 months to build her career towards an (e.g., NIHR or MRC funded) PhD studentship, followed by an academic tenure focusing on CNO/CRMO. Eve is now involved in biomarker studies and investigation of osteoclast function in relation to P2X7 variants. She successfully applied to a locally generated academic clinical fellowship post (equivalent to NIHR ACF) and will keep working with us on biomarker development for the diagnosis and monitoring of CNO.
  • Dr Emma Nolan, Clinical Research Fellow: Emma has joined the EATC4Children for a year (Aug 24-Aug25) and is working alongside Dr Eve Smith and colleagues on the NEPHROTARGET study which uses urine biomarkers and nailfold capillaroscopy to explores T2T strategies in childhood lupus nephritis.
  • Miss Tes Ajeigbe, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow/Dental Core Trainee: Tes is leading on the salivary biomarker project (see above) in children with mouth ulcer project supervised by Prof Hedrich/Ass Prof Clare Pain and Prof Al-Badri. This project and the below project are examples of a new multi-speciality collaborative programme between EATC4Children and the Liverpool Dental School.
  • Miss Eman AlQahtani, Paediatric Dentistry DDSc student: Undertook Mixed Method Study to Assess the Impact of Behcet’s syndrome on the quality of life of children (completed April 2025)

Healthcare Professionals (non-medical)

We support several colleagues from within our extensive multidisciplinary team in developing them as researchers, aligned to the aims and goals of the EATC4Children, through various training opportunities.

  • Clinical Psychologist and NIHR Research Scholarship Programme: Assoc Prof Clare Pain has supported a rheumatology clinical psychologist (Dr Marilena Hadjittofi) in leading an application to the Oliver Bird Foundation in 2024, which was unsuccessful. However, through this mentoring and support, this colleague has now been successful and completed the NIHR research scholars programme, aimed at development of NHS research leaders. This aligns with feedback from Versus Arthritis about supporting non-medical healthcare professionals to develop as independent researchers.
  • Mrs Olivia Lloyd, Lupus UK Clinical Nurse Specialist at Alder Hey: Mrs Lloyd is working on many initiatives related to the TARGET LUPUS programme, in-particular the development of a dual target approach. She is also a co-investigator on ‘speeding up diagnosis in JSLE’ (Assoc Clin Prof Pain & Prof Beresford) which has been funded by LUPUS UK. Olivia has training in qualitative research, having previously undertaken a Masters investigating initial experiences of receiving a diagnosis of JSLE. She is very interested in developing her research skills and considering applying for a higher degree.
  • NIHR Associate PI Scheme: The Associate PI scheme is a 6-month training opportunity that aims to develop health and care professionals, allowing them hands on experience to become the Principal Investigators in the future. This scheme is currently open within five of our studies. Over 14 healthcare professionals have completed or are participating in this scheme including nurse specialists. Additionally, this training opportunity is available at collaborating sites involved in our studies, widening its impact.

NHS Consultants – Transition to Senior Academic Appointments

  • Honorary Clinical Associate Professor Clare Pain, University of Liverpool, and Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist, University of Liverpool & Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Assoc Prof Pain is an NHS Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology at Alder Hey and Associate Director of the EATC4Children for many years, leading our Juvenile Scleroderma and Behcet’s workstreams, and extremely active in many of our other workstreams. She has extensive experience of conducting research which is integrated within an NHS setting and during this period has been co-chair of the NIHR CRN: Children/Versus Arthritis Paediatric Rheumatology CSG, supporting national initiatives to prioritise, design and deliver multi-centre research studies. She is a key driver of the Department’s ethos that every patient should have the opportunity to be part of research and that research is everybody’s business. She has been awarded an NIHR HTA Grant (>￡1M) for the STAR-JIA trial (see above), leads many national and international clinical and translational studies and is a wonderful champion of all that we manage to do to support children and young people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases through the EATC4Children. She is chair of the PReS scleroderma Working Party leading one of the largest cohort studies of localised scleroderma in multiple countries.
  • Honorary Clinical Associate Professor Liza McCann, University of Liverpool, and Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist, University of Liverpool & Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Assoc Prof McCann is an NHS Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology at Alder Hey leading our Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy (IMM) workstream (formerly Juvenile Dermatomyositis) and works across many of our other workstreams. She has extensive experience of conducting research which is integrated within an NHS setting, supporting all our clinical studies / trials that we are conducting or contributing to at Alder Hey. As CI she has been awarded the NIHR RfpB MYOSCOPE study (see above) and leads many national and international IMM-related studies. She is current chair of the International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group (IMACS) Special Interest Group, has co-led the European (SHARE) JDM guidelines and BSR myositis guidelines focused and is past Chair of the PReS JDM Working Party. During this reporting period the University of Liverpool recognised her national and international research and contribution to the field by awarding her an Honorary Clinical Associate Professorship.

International trainees

  • Valentina Natoli, Italy, has visited the EATC4Children from 2022 to 2023. Since then, Valentina has been working with us closely on several key projects investigating genetic variants associated with SLE. Valentina has published seven key outputs with us that allowed her to develop her career and, most recently, move to a clinical academic post in Lausanne, CH.
  • Dr Ayodele Faleye - PReS EMERGE Fellow, 2021-22: Dr Faleye is a paediatric rheumatologist from Lagos State University Hospital, Nigeria. Dr Smith supported her PReS/EMERGE Fellowship application and project looking at ‘Pulmonary involvement in JSLE’ and she joined us in Liverpool during the pandemic. We continue to work closely with her, including ongoing work to publish data arising from her fellowship, whilst supporting her plans to set up a Nigerian cSLE cohort in the future.

Academic Toolkit – Continued collaboration with the RCPCH

The Academic Toolkit is a resource developed by the EATC4Children in partnership originally with the Academic Paediatric Association and more recently with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). It supports paediatric trainees interested in pursuing an academic career pathway. This work, initially led by Prof Bishop for the EATC4Children, was developed further in his role as RCPCH Vice President for Science and Research 2019-22. Continued collation of feedback and refinement of the interface in supporting and maintaining a clinical academic trajectory from pre-doctoral researcher to senior lecturer, reader and professor has taken place. The Toolkit is being redeveloped as a more interactive microsite within the RCPCH site, but with universal access. During this period, we have been working closely with the RCPCH for securing its continued development to extend the reach of the available resource to support the development of Non-medical Healthcare Professionals as well as those working in sectors allied to Child Health in line with the commitment to multidisciplinary working.