Dr Lindsey S. Cherry (nee Hooper)

NIHR Post-doctoral Clinical Lectureship jointly held between the University of Southampton and Solent NHS Trust

Hi, I'm Dr Lindsey S. Cherry (nee Hooper) and I studied within Health Sciences at the University of Southampton.

The prestige of being at Southampton has definitely helped open doors. Not only does the University offer a flexible approach but it’s also home to some of the UK’s leading experts.

Before undertaking my podiatry degree I certainly wouldn't have said that I was academic. However I felt a real affinity for the subject and loved using my newly acquired knowledge to make a difference for my patients.

After graduating as a podiatrist from the University of Brighton I undertook an eight week research internship at the University of Southampton. This was my first exposure to professional clinical research and I was bitten by the bug.

I continued to develop my academic skills working with colleagues at the Universities of Brighton and Southampton. These were the early precursor years to a future career which combined clinical and academic.

In 2009 I was awarded an NIHR clinical doctoral research fellowship at Southampton in podiatric rheumatology, one of the first three podiatrists to ever be awarded this Department of Health grant. This provided a brilliant opportunity to undertake research leading to a PhD and to develop in a specialist clinical podiatry post.

Since then, I have become the first award holder to complete my PhD and go on to successfully receive post-doctoral funding as a clinical academic.

My research focuses on improving our current understanding of the lower limb problems experienced by patients with rheumatological conditions and serves to inform clinical management strategies. The findings of the research are fed directly back into podiatric clinical practice so that patients receive the most up-to-date care options.

Cross-faculty working at Southampton is actively encouraged.  The mentorship I received from across Health Sciences and Medicine meant that I had access to a much greater range of resources, such as statisticians, and a far wider support network.

I had a fantastic day-to-day mentor in Dr Cathy Bowen who has been instrumental in bringing it all together.  I also routinely met with my main academic mentor and clinical mentors in individual and team meetings. Being part of the Southampton and Oxford Lower Limb Arthritis Research group (SOLLAR) also offered the excellent opportunity for ongoing peer review and feedback.

In the future I would like to remain as I am - both academic and practising clinician.  It is my aim to develop our clinical services locally so we can translate our research tools/findings and apply them to clinical practise.