Thanks to your donations, we’re able to support NHS staff learning and development opportunities.

Ryan Longley, Trainee Clinical Scientist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals recently benefitted from a year-long research internship funded by Leeds Hospitals Charity.

In Summer 2020, we contributed £5,200 to fund Ryan’s research project, to create personalised models of patient’s hearts using medical imaging, helping surgeons make informed decisions before performing heart surgery.

This opportunity gave Ryan protected time to undertake training and also helped him secure a place on a research module at the University of Leeds.

Ryan says, “I hope that my patient-centered research will be an important tool in helping our surgeons treat patients with heart disease, which are more prevalent than ever with our aging population and rising obesity rates in the UK.”

This charity-funded internship has helped Ryan progress in his clinical research career, and in September he will begin an NIHR Pre-Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (PCAF).

Ryan is so grateful to Leeds Hospitals Charity for helping him take an important step forward in his career, “It’s been such a great experience! I felt like I was a part of a community from our very first video call, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. I had so much support and input from the other research interns, it’s been so valuable.”