Clinical Academics in Training Annual Conference (CATAC)

Are you a clinical academic trainee looking for a chance to present your research, perhaps for the first time?

CATAC is a great opportunity for you to:

• Develop your presentation skills.
• Meet with your peers and senior academics to build networks.
• Raise your profile within the clinical academic community.
• Meet Academy Fellows.

The keynote speakers gave honest accounts of the career ups and downs of a clinical academic, and invaluable advice on remaining true to yourself, maintaining work-life balance and how to ultimately succeed as an independent researcher. There were interesting presentations covering a diverse range of academic disciplines.

We left the meeting with broadened horizons and renewed enthusiasm for collaborative research and future careers in clinical academia. GW4-CAT fellow

Check #CATAC2018 on Twitter to see what attendees thought on the day.

There are three competitions for early career researchers who hold a medical, dental or veterinary undergraduate degree:

• Post-Doctoral Plenary Competition

This competition is for researchers with clinical qualifications who have passed their PhD viva (at the abstract submission closing date). If selected you will be asked to prepare a 10 minute oral presentation, to be followed by 5 minutes of questions from the audience. A panel of judges will score the presentations and there will be 1 winner, who will get £2500, and 1 runner up, who will get £750.

Winner 2018 - Dr Kate Marks (University of Leeds) 'An assessment of the mutation rate of normal colorectal epithelium in patients with cancer compared to patients without'

Runner up 2018 - Dr Muzaffer Kaser (University of Cambridge) 'Computational approach to reinforcement learning in patients with remitted depression: results from a randomised double-blind  placebo-controlled study'

• Pre-Doctoral Plenary Competition

This competition is for researchers with clinical qualifications who have not yet passed a PhD viva (at the abstract submission closing date). If selected you will be asked to prepare a 5 minute oral presentation, to be followed by 2 minutes of questions from the audience. A panel of judges will score the presentations and there will be 1 winner, who will get £1500, and 1 runner up, who will get £500.

Winner 2018 - Dr Angela Lucas-Herald (University of Glasgow) 'Altered vascular function in boys with hypospadias - role of reactive oxygen species'

Runner up 2018 - Dr Duncan Brian (University College London) 'Forced expression of retinoic acid receptor alpha potentiates differentiation of acute myeloid leukaemia'

• Poster competition for all clinical academics in training

This competition is for all researchers with clinical qualifications, if selected you will be asked to prepare a poster to present at the conference. The posters are grouped by broad research categories and there is a 1 hour session at the conference for two judges, the competitors in that category and other attendees to visit each poster together. You will have 2 minutes to present your poster to the group and 1 minute to answer questions. The judges will score each poster in the group and there will be 1 winner, who will get £1000, and 1 runner up, who will get £250, from each group.

Group A - Applied health services research; Epidemiology; Population health sciences

Winner 2018 - Dr Zenas Yiu (University of Manchester) 'Risk of serious infection associated with biologic therapies in psoriasis: prospective cohort study from the British Association of Dermatologists Biologic Interventions Register (BADBIR)'

Runner up 2018 - Dr Christoph Mueller (King's College London) 'Antipsychotic use in dementia: the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptom profiles and adverse outcomes'

Group B - Cellular and molecular biology; Genetics

Winner 2018 - Dr Claire Salter (University of Exeter) 'Exploring the neuropathological outcomes associated with different classes of choline transporter mutation'

Runner up 2018 - Dr Adam Sharp (Institute of Cancer Research) 'Novel strategies to target RNA splicing to overcome androgen receptor splice variant-7 (AR-V7) signalling in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)'

Group C - Inflammation; Infection; Immunity

Winner 2018 - Dr Karen Mackenzie (University of Edinburgh) 'cGAS detection of micronuclei links immune surveillance to autoinflammation'

Runner up 2018 - Dr Tariq Farrah (University of Edinburgh) 'Endothelin receptor antagonism improves lipid profiles & reduces myocardial injury in patients with chronic kidney disease'

Group D - Neurology; Neuroscience; Imaging; Technology

Winner 2018 - Dr Zoeb Jiwaji (University of Edinburgh) 'Neuron-astrocyte signalling alters transcription to control CNS homeostasis and is dysregulated by ageing and anaesthesia'

Runner up 2018 - Dr Akila Visvanathan (University of Edinburgh) 'A qualitative study to improve communication and shared decision making on treatments after acute severe stroke'

Our keynote speakers in 2018 were Dr Katherine Sleeman, NIHR Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant in palliative medicine at King's College London, speaking about her 'Adventures in academia: from womb to tomb' and Professor Ed Bullmore, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, author of 'The Inflamed Mind: a radical new approach to depression'.

The Abstract booklet, with information on the speakers, is available here.

Following feedback from attendees that they would appreciate the event rotating between London and other venues in the UK - we made the decision to move away from London in 2018, with Edinburgh being our first choice, in an effort to attract an even broader range of delegates from wider sections of the UK. 

“We are delighted to be hosting the CATAC 2018 conference here in Edinburgh in November 2018. The event aligns with the strategic research priorities of the College which is committed to undertaking and supporting research through a variety of channels and to developing the researchers of the future. Since 2016 our own research symposium offers medical students and doctors in training an early opportunity to present findings; have early career research published and to build on networks. We look forward to working with the Academy of Medical Sciences and to hosting this prestigious event in Edinburgh on its first rotation from London.” 

Professor Derek Bell, President, Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh.

Summaries of our most recent Spring Meetings are available here, which include full lists of winners, videos and podcasts.

Alternatively, you can view  series of videos about Spring Meeting on the Academy's YouTube channel.