We have partnered with the Academy of Medical Sciences, the UK’s national academy for medical science, to launch a new fellowship programme to help promising rare disease innovations reach patients faster. 

Backed by our £6 million commitment, the scheme will focus on rare diseases, where there remains significant unmet patient need and where new approaches are urgently needed to move the science towards clinical practice and meaningful benefit for patients. 

We have co-created the fellowship with the Academy of Medical Sciences to address a critical need in the UK life sciences ecosystem by supporting the next generation of clinician scientists to develop the skills, networks and cross-sector experience needed to become leaders and drive innovation from the lab into healthcare settings. 

Supporting the next generation of clinician scientists 

Through the scheme, fellows will be supported to undertake ambitious research and access training opportunities, including industry placements or collaborations, tailored mentoring, career development and practical guidance to help them maximise the impact of their research and build long-term careers as translational innovators. 

The scheme is intended to be flexible, enabling fellows to shape their fellowship around their research goals, clinical expertise and career ambitions. It is designed for postdoctoral clinician scientists with emerging independence who are working in areas of patient need, initially within rare diseases. 

Helping promising ideas move forward sooner 

Sam Barrell, CEO at LifeArc, said: “Promising discoveries can take years to move from the lab to the clinic. For people living with rare diseases, where treatment options are often limited or unavailable, those delays are far from abstract. They can affect the chance to benefit from new treatments when they have the greatest potential to make a difference. 

This fellowship is about giving talented clinician scientists the support to move promising ideas forward sooner. By combining clinical insight with translational expertise, we want to help turn ambitious rare disease research into faster impact for patients.” 

Professor Sir Andrew Morris CBE FRSE PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “Clinician scientists take research out of the lab and turn it into better care for patients. But their numbers have been falling for years, and too many are lost at the exact point where they need support to work across academia, industry and the NHS. 

The Academy has warned about this decline in its own work on clinical academic careers, and we see fellowships like this as one of the most direct ways to reverse it. 

With LifeArc, this fellowship gives clinician scientists in rare disease research the funding, mentoring and connections to build those careers, and to put their research to use for the patients who are still waiting for it.” 

Developed with expert input 

The fellowship model has been developed with input from an expert taskforce convened by the Academy of Medical Sciences and chaired by Professor Helen McShane FMedSci. The taskforce has helped shape the scheme’s aims, eligibility criteria, assessment approach and programme of support for future fellows. 

Together with the Academy of Medical Sciences, we intend the fellowship to develop into a scalable, multi-funder model over time, attracting additional partners to broaden the opportunity and drive innovation across a wider range of disease areas. 

Applications now open 

Applications for the AMS/LifeArc Clinician Scientist Innovation Fellowship are now open. Further details on eligibility, application guidance and deadlines are available on the Academy website.