The award will enable Dr Clatworthy to advance his research on vision in stroke alongside his clinical practice as Consultant Stroke Neurologist at North Bristol NHS Trust.
Dr Clatworthy was awarded an Elizabeth Blackwell Institute (EBI) Early Career Fellowship in June 2014 to work on understanding brain plasticity and perceptual learning following brain injury with a view of developing individualised visual rehabilitation. This work is directed toward improving health using stratified (or personalised) medicine, a major priority area in medical research. Dr Clatworthy’s work focuses on rehabilitation of brain injury, and enhancement of recovery using pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods (e.g. non-invasive brain stimulation). There is also a strong neuroscience component in this research, aimed at understanding mechanisms underlying recovery and rehabilitation, which he has been developing with groups within the University.
Dr Clatworthy said: ‘I would like to express my gratitude to the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for the award of my Fellowship, without which I would not have had the time or support of my NHS Trust to pursue the Senior Clinical Lectureship application. EBI Fellowship also provides me with a platform to develop this line of research at the University of Bristol further and broaden engagement from other researchers and teams. For clinicians in Bristol, I feel the EBI is the perfect partner for developing health research.’
Dr Clatworthy is looking to develop a research group in the University of Bristol and would welcome enquiries from people interested in working in his research area, including potential research students, post-doctoral researchers and collaborators. He is happy to receive communication via email at phil.clatworthy@bristol.ac.uk.
Visit Dr Clatworthy’s blog for more information about visual rehabilitation.
More information on funding from the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, including Research Fellowships, is available.
Research funded by the Stroke Association has the ultimate aim of making stroke a preventable and treatable disease, and improving the quality of life for people affected by stroke.