Q&A with Dr Lisa Newington: Shaping inclusive, multidisciplinary research in Bone and Joint Health

29 April 2025

Lisa, could you start by telling us a bit about your background and how you became involved with the Bone and Joint Health group?

I'm a Clinical Academic Hand Therapist based jointly in the Bone and Joint Health team and at The Royal London Hospital, where I work clinically in hand therapy. My current role was created around 18 months ago with funding from a Barts Charity bid aimed at expanding the clinical academic workforce—particularly for allied health professionals like physiotherapists and occupational therapists, who have historically had fewer research development opportunities.

I’ve been a physiotherapist for about 20 years and completed a PhD at the University of Southampton through the NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship scheme between 2015 and 2019. I’m London-based and have worked across many of the city’s large hospitals and universities. Like many allied health professionals interested in research, I’ve often had to move around short-term fellowships and roles because clinical academic posts are rare in our field. This post is the first of its kind—it's likely the first externally advertised clinical academic hand therapy post in the country. Without the flexibility and support from Barts Charity, it wouldn’t have happened.

What are some of the key research projects you’re currently involved in?

There’s quite a bit going on! I’m currently a collaborator on an NIHR Programme Development Grant that focuses on work participation support for adults with long-term physical health conditions (IMPPACT). The study is being delivered through the London Centre for Work and Health, which brings together researchers from Imperial, King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and Queen Mary, where I lead on musculoskeletal disorders. The goal of IMPPACT is to explore how we can help people stay in or return to work by providing the right support in conjunction with novel disease modifying drugs. It’s a national observational study that will help inform future research and interventions.

I’m also working on an NIHR Health Technology Assessment-funded trial called FLARE, which looks at surgical and rehabilitation outcomes following flexor tendon injuries—the long tendons that let you bend your fingers. We’re evaluating the most effective surgical repair options and the best rehab and splinting approaches to help patients recover their function as quickly as possible. Again, this is a national trial, and Barts Health is one of the recruiting sites.

In addition to that, I’ve received an NIHR Development and Skills Enhancement Award since joining Bone and Joint Health. This fellowship is focused on developing my training in health data science. I’ve been working with Jenny Lane and the data team here, who are doing fantastic work using routinely collected health data to answer big research questions. My training is about learning how to use that data responsibly and effectively, particularly in ways that can benefit our local population.

I’m also supervising a PhD student, working with Professor Katie Sheehan, who’s exploring digital reluctance among allied health professionals—looking at how we can ensure clinicians are supported in adapting to digital tools and decision-support technologies as healthcare evolves.

And I have a master’s student based in Derby—one of the few places in the UK that offers a masters in hand therapy—who is investigating the experiences of people with musculoskeletal injuries as they return to work. The project examines how rehab professionals, particularly in hand therapy, can better support patients through this process rather than just signposting them to their GP.

How does your research address the needs of our local population in east London?

Our population is incredibly diverse, with many residents whose first language isn’t English, and a significant proportion living in areas of high deprivation. It’s vital that this diversity is reflected in the data we gather so the results of our studies are generalisable and don’t unintentionally exclude underrepresented communities. We are very intentional about making sure people in east London are included and represented in our national trials and studies.

The data science work we’re developing now will focus more directly on the needs of our local population. By using routinely collected data, we can identify where outcomes are poorer, spot inequalities, and design interventions that really make a difference to the people we serve here in east London.

What role do patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) groups play in your research?

To me, there’s no such thing as research without PPIE—it’s just part of the process. I’ve always built patient and public involvement into my work, whether the project is fully funded or not. We’ve always found ways to secure small pots of money to compensate people for their time, because their input is so valuable.

You simply can’t make meaningful decisions about what research to do, how to design studies, or how to recruit participants without involving the people the research is ultimately for. It helps us ask the right questions, use accessible language, and make sure what we’re doing is actually relevant to people’s lives.

What impact do you think the new Centre for Bone and Joint Health will have?

Becoming a Centre is a huge step forward. It’s creating space for allied health professionals—like occupational therapists and physiotherapists—to do high-quality research and be supported throughout that journey. That hasn’t always been the case elsewhere.

The Centre allows us to build capacity and run more pre-doctoral programmes. For example, thanks to recycling some of the research funding I’ve brought in, we’ve just recruited a new pre-doctoral clinical academic fellow, Daniel Ceh, who started in April. He’s working 60 per cent clinically and 40 per cent on research, with the goal of developing into a fully funded PhD fellowship post.

The Centre also allows us to strengthen collaborations—with internal colleagues, external universities, and clinical teams across disciplines. It’s not just about research into outpatient physiotherapy or sports injuries; we cover the full spectrum of musculoskeletal health—from frailty and health equity to niche surgical and rehabilitation questions. That breadth is a real strength.

How has Barts Charity helped make this work possible?

Barts Charity was absolutely instrumental. Without their funding, my role wouldn’t exist, and I wouldn’t have been in a position to secure further grants, bring in students, or help build a team. I believe this is the first clinical academic hand therapist post that was created in the country, so that would not have been possible without the Charity funding. Their flexibility has also been key. As I brought in additional funding, they allowed us to reinvest that back into the team, for example, by supporting early-career researchers like Daniel.

This kind of investment has enabled us to build something sustainable and aspirational. It’s not just about the work we’re doing now, it’s about creating a supportive research environment that can grow and evolve over time.

Any final thoughts?

Just to emphasise how collaborative and inclusive the team is. The Centre isn’t limited to one professional group or one type of research. We’ve got surgeons, therapists, data scientists and others all working together. It’s a genuinely multidisciplinary, supportive environment. And we owe a lot to people like Professor Katie Sheehan, who leads the rehabilitation side of the Centre and has been pivotal in building that culture.

It’s exciting to be part of something that’s pushing boundaries, creating space for allied health professionals, and making sure the research we do reflects the full range of experiences and communities we serve.