Dr Felicity Dewhurst is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Oswald’s Hospice and an NIHR Advanced Fellow and Senior Clinical Lecturer in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University. 

Following her Dunhill doctoral fellowship, she lobbied for the creation of the first NIHR Academic Clinical Lectureship in Palliative Medicine in Newcastle, and subsequently successfully applied for the first NIHR Advanced Fellowship in Palliative Medicine nationally (January 2024-6.25 years).  

Felicity has developed a mixed methods programme of research, her interests include promoting equity in palliative care particularly in relation to frailty, multiple long-term conditions, non-malignant disease and ethnic minority groups. She has achieved funding successes as lead applicant (>£1.75 million including five NIHR awards) and co-applicant (>£5.8 million) and has a strong international publication and presentation record including writing and presenting to policy audiences. Felicity has built regional and national research collaborations and her research has resulted in prize winning service innovation (hospice UK) with further service expansion planned (funded by Macmillan). Felicity has a Master’s in Health Professions Education and is on the education committee of the Association of Palliative Medicine (APM) and the organising committee for the Palliative Care Congress (PCC). She is passionate about trying to improve care through research, education and service modification. 

Dr Amy Gadoud, Honorary Community Consultant in Palliative Medicine

Amy Gadoud is a Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine at Lancaster Medical School where she is NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Training Lead. She works with colleagues in the International Observatory on End of Life Care, at Lancaster University. Her main research interest is ensuring equality in access to palliative care using a range of research methods from analysing large datasets to qualitative studies.

In 2024 she was appointed the first national palliative care lead for the NIHR Research Delivery Network.

She works clinically as an Honorary Community Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Trinity Hospice and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 

Prof. Miriam Johnson, Professor of Palliative Medicine

Miriam Johnson is Professor of Palliative Medicine at Hull York Medical School, Associate Director of the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre at the University of Hull, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Her interests include mechanisms and management of breathlessness and inequalities in palliative care service provision e.g., for people with non-malignant disease such as heart failure and respiratory disease. For 20 years she was also a consultant palliative physician and set up one of the UK’s first integrated palliative care-heart failure services. 

Sam has been a Consultant at St Luke’s since 2008 and became Medical Director in 2013. His role was further expanded in 2018, to reflect his role leading the development of new and innovative clinical services at St Luke’s. Sam has been fundamental in the development of St Luke’s as a centre for specialist palliative care research.

Sam is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and a Clinical Leader for end of life care in the Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Network in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw. In 2018, he was appointed as the Training Programme Director for Palliative Medicine for Yorkshire and Humber, responsible for overseeing the training programme for palliative care trainees throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region. 

Prior to her tenure at St Oswald’s Hospice, Amanda served as the Chief Operating Officer at the Clinical Research Network Yorkshire and Humber (CRN). During her time with the CRN, she restructured the senior management team and built strong relationships with the network’s key partner organisations across the region, which included 21 NHS trusts, 21 CCGs, and numerous GP practices and non-NHS entities.

Before her time at CRN, Amanda founded the Newcastle Joint Research Office (NJRO), which supports all the research endeavours within the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University.

In April 2022, Amanda provided consultancy services to the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Independent Hospices before returning to St Oswald’s Hospice to assume her current position.

Amanda specialises in forging partnerships with external organisations, with a significant track record in developing commercial collaborations. Throughout her career, she has established research partnerships at the organisational level with major pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, GSK, Quintiles, and IQVIA.

Amanda is proactive in safeguarding the safety of research initiatives from a patient standpoint, as well as actively upholding the integrity of data collection and procedural processes. Her efforts focus on fostering strategic research partnerships to ensure that patients and their families at the Hospice benefit from research-driven care.

Clare has worked in a variety of research roles including governance, research design & delivery, management and leadership and spent the last 18yrs working in Women’s Health at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHSFT. Clare has been working alongside teams of clinical, academic and research colleagues developing grant applications and trial protocols to obtain the evidence to enable women to make informed decisions about their care.

Clare is keen to share these experiences to support research growth and development in Palliative care in the hospice setting.