Host a Tessa Jowell Fellow

National training Fellowships hosted within your centre, driving forward specialist neuro-oncology care and innovation.

Tessa Jowell Fellows are fully funded clinicians (ST6 onwards) who become embedded within your centre for 12 months, supervised by and working alongside your teams. Working as a supernumerary team member, each Fellow has protected time to develop advanced clinical practice in their specialty and to lead or contribute to research projects, locally and nationally. 

Increased research capacity 

A Fellow brings dedicated, protected research time into your centre: additional capacity focused on advancing the research your team is undertaking. Fellows develop as clinical academics within your research activity – contributing to and helping lead your projects and initiating new ones. They train in trial design, governance and delivery alongside your investigators, with further exposure to early drug development through opportunities such as TJBCM’s Brain Tumour Research – Novel Therapeutics Accelerator. Previous Fellows have written trial protocols, curated datasets, published research findings, opened new studies, informed national position statements now shaping NHS policy, and gone on to Early Career Investigator roles on the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium. 

Enhanced clinical trials activity 

A Fellow’s research training translates into delivery at your centre. Fellows take an active role in clinical trials open or activating at your institution, building trial-delivery capability within your team. To date, Fellows have supported 9+ clinical trials across the UK, including protocol writing, trial activation and patient recruitment. 

Improved patient access 

Fellows expand your capacity to see and manage complex neuro-oncology cases, working closely within the multidisciplinary team to deliver comprehensive, holistic care — from diagnosis through to managing the symptoms and complications of brain tumours. With a Fellow carrying part of that workload alongside your consultants, senior time can be focused where it is needed most

Strengthened national collaboration 

Through the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, your Fellow becomes part of a unique UK-wide network connecting neuro-oncology centres, the third sector and government. Through its programme portfolio, they can contribute to national clinical, research and policy initiatives, giving your centre dedicated capacity and a stronger voice in work shaping neuro-oncology across the UK. 

This national involvement brings new insights, relationships and opportunities back into your service, while the collaborations developed by the Fellow can continue well beyond the Fellowship itself. Previous Fellows have established national clinical networks, contributed to government and policy discussions, shaped national guidance and consensus, and delivered research informing the future of neuro-oncology care. 

“Hosting a Fellow strengthened our connection with our partner centre and with other UK centres. We have forged a lasting relationship with the Fellow and, through her, with her home institution”  

Dr Faye Robertson, Fellowship supervisor, The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

• Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence Award — host institutions are expected to hold Centre of Excellence designation for adults or children, the national recognition that a centre goes above and beyond for patients with a brain tumour. 

• Named clinical supervision — an engaged supervisor with relevant expertise, working within a supportive team with national recognition in the areas the Fellow will train in. 

• Breadth of research opportunity — an active research environment offering a range of projects, trials and datasets the Fellow can contribute to or take forward, so their protected research time produces meaningful output. 

• Appropriate infrastructure — the clinical and research infrastructure in which the Fellowship can be delivered, including access to clinics, multidisciplinary meetings, trial and research governance support, and the systems and data the Fellow will need. 

Interested in hosting a Tessa Jowell Fellow at your centre? Contact lauren.lankhuijzen@tessajowellbcm.org to discuss your centre’s fit, the specialties you could host in, and how a new Fellowship could be set up.