Doctor from Sheffield is USA bound in fellowship scheme trip

A dedicated doctor at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded a prestigious Fellowship in the USA.
Dr Saira Ghafur was awarded the Harkness fellowshipDr Saira Ghafur was awarded the Harkness fellowship
Dr Saira Ghafur was awarded the Harkness fellowship

Dr Saira Ghafur was awarded the Harkness fellowship which allows health service researchers and practitioners to spend 12 months in the United States conducting original research and working with leading US health policy experts.

The fellowship was awarded by the Commonwealth Fund, which is a private foundation in the US that aims to promote a high performing health care system, by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy.

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The fellowship is also supported in the UK by the Health Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Dr Ghafur, who will begin the fellowship in August, said: “I am very excited about the prospect of taking up this fantastic opportunity. It will enable me to learn from some leading experts and institutions in the US and on return share this knowledge to help implement change. I am very grateful for all the support I have had from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals in helping me secure this fellowship.”

She added: “I will be based in New York during my time in the US and my project will be based on information technology to support the delivery of healthcare for both patients and professionals.”

Dr Ghafur is a physician specialising in Respiratory and General Internal Medicine, and was previously a Leadership and Quality Improvement Fellow with the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Service Improvement team. She then went on to be Bruce Keogh’s National Leadership Fellow last year and is now stepping up to International level with the Harkness Fellowship.

She is one of only 13 Fellows which have been selected from around the world including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.