About PRIME

Paediatric Research In Manchester, England (PRIME) was set up to connect paediatric trainees across the North West of England and support them in participating and initiating research for child health.

Our aim is to demystify the pathways into research and make research accessible to everyone regardless of prior experience or specialty area of interest.

Research improves care for children and is fundamental to medical progress. We want to help trainees and consultants in the region to undertake good research projects. From single case reports or retrospective observational reviews to phase I/II interventional clinical trials - we have a team ready to support you!

Our network will connect you with experienced researchers and other enthusiastic healthcare professionals to help you answer novel questions and improve the way we work.

We will offer educational opportunities, project links, support and signpost those of you interested in pursuing an academic career. This is a space for everyone - get involved!

Who We Are

PRIME was established by co-chairs Dr Chris Worth and Dr Aimee Donald, paediatric trainees working at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital as research fellows at differing stages of their clinical academic careers. Neither had much research experience before embarking on higher degrees and as early trainee doctors never imagined they would aspire to long-term clinical academic positions.

In recognition of the unmet needs and under representation of paediatricians in clinical research and the barriers faced by trainee doctors in developing research skills and undertaking meaningful research projects, PRIME was formed. Click on the faces below to find out about the whole team!

Dr Chris Worth PRIME CO-CHAIR Chris is a paediatric endocrinology GRID trainee after completing a PhD in Congenital Hyperinsulinism. Chris is also the co-founder of PRIME. To find out more about his journey into research take a look at the academic careers page or click anywhere here!	Dr Aimee Donald PRIME CO-CHAIR Aimee is an academic clinical lecturer/paediatric neurology GRID trainee. She is the co-founder of PRIME and you can find out about her journey into research by visiting the academic careers page (or click here!).	Dr Rebecca Preston PROJECT ASSESSOR In this role, Becky will help trainees and research teams think about their project ideas to get the best results. She'll work with the rest of the committee to make sure the right trainees are matched to the most suitable projects. To find out more about Becky's own research have a look on the research careers page.
Dr Faezeh Sakhinia INTER-HOSPITAL RESEARCH COORDINATOR Faezeh is an ST8 Nephrology GRID trainee who has worked across the NW in several of our regional hospitals. Using the established relationships and her own experiences of trying to stay actively engaged in research while moving around the region, she will help keep all trainees connected no matter where they're working. To hear more about Faezeh's own experience of research check out the academic careers page or click anywhere here!	Dr Natalie Francis PROJECT ASSESSOR In this role Natalie will help trainees and research teams think about their project ideas to get the best results. She'll work with the rest of the committee to make sure the right trainees are matched to the most suitable projects. To find out more about Natalie's own research have a look on the research careers page.	Dr Sameera Auckburally MEDIA LEAD Sameera is a paediatric ST4 doctor with a keen interest in paediatric endocrinology. She has recently completed her Master's in Clinical Research alongside her academic clinical fellow role. She also has qualitative research experience and recently published a study on families' experiences with CGM in patients with congenital hyperinsulinism.
Dr Jennifer Peterson NEONATAL RESEARCH ADVISOR Jennifer is a Neonatal GRID Trainee with an interest in neonatal palliative & end of life care and has completed an MA in Healthcare Ethics and Law. She has coordinated several projects focussed on improving preterm delivery room stabilisation. She is currently undertaking her PhD focused on analysing and improving information sharing with parents facing periviable delivery. She is Regional Rep for the NeoTRIPs national neonatal trainee-led research group.	Dr Becky Ollerenshaw EVENTS COORDINATOR Becky is an ST4 paediatric trainee who will help to organise and run PRIME events. She has experience of event organisation previously and will help us capture the needs of paediatric trainees and translate these into interesting and informative events. Becky's own research experience started in medical school and she has maintained participation in research activities as a trainee through audits, research projects and writing up interesting case reports.	Dr Reena Perchard PROJECT ASSESSOR In this role Reena will help trainees and research teams think about their project ideas to get the best results. She'll work with the rest of the committee to make sure the right trainees are matched to the most suitable projects. Reena is an academic clinical lecturer/paediatric endocrinology GRID trainee. To find out more about Reena's own research experience have a look on the research careers page.
Dr Alex Blakes DATA LEAD Alex is in his first year of his PhD with a lot of experience in research projects with large datasets. In his research, he is trying to find diagnoses for children with rare genetic diseases which involves looking at huge amounts of data, like that generated by whole genome-sequencing. He is here to help with programming languages, e.g. Python or R, and will be on hand to give advice on the design of any potential data-driven projects you may have!