Dr Clare Carasco
Clare is a respiratory trainee in North West Thames working at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. She graduated with distinction in Medicine from Imperial College London in 2013, receiving several prizes for academic performance. She intercalated in Medical Sciences with Management and this is where her interest in Leadership and Management was sparked.
As such, every year of training, she has held the role of junior doctor representative or associate college tutor. Through these roles she has led a number of quality improvement projects focussed on patient safety as well as developing an understanding of leadership and support. One particular Staff Communication Project developed during COVID won second place at the Royal College of Physicians' National Excellence in Patient Care Awards. More recently, she has been appointed an Imperial College Wellbeing Champion and Schwartz Facilitator to further her role supporting staff.
Clare has a keen interest in teaching and spent a year as a Postgraduate Medical Education Fellow; she completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education, taught as an ALS instructor, trained as a HEE LEEP programme facilitator and initiated and designed a number of new courses. In this role, widening participation became an area she has developed a passion for. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she created a Virtual Work Experience Project that could be accessed by students across London at no cost. Over 800 students, from all different backgrounds, completed the programme.
Outside of work she loves travelling and great food – and is always ready for the next adventure!
Reason for applying for the scheme
Clare applied to the National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow Scheme as she had heard from many previous fellows what a unique opportunity it was to learn about leadership and management in a truly immersive way.
Clare is passionate about leadership and also about the National Health Service. At a time when it faces its biggest challenges to date, she feels it is essential for clinicians to be engaged about the role they can play to overcome these. She is excited to start her role in NHS England and hopes to learn skills she can take back to her clinical role to help begin bridging the gap between front-line staff and management.
Further, she is a strong believer in involving clinicians in leadership activity early in their training and in a practical way to consolidate learning. In the future, she hopes to develop local sustainable leadership mentor programmes available to the multi-disciplinary team, at any stage of training, where they can be paired with staff in leadership roles. Working with her own mentor on the scheme, she hopes to develop these ideas further.
