Dr Caroline Alexander

Current Role: please detail current role and date of appointment

I have been a clinical academic at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust since 2003 and now hold the NIHR Senior Clinical Lectureship that supports this role. I spend 50% of my time as a clinical specialist physiotherapist leading a team who look after the more complex musculoskeletal patients. Here I am a clinician, educator and mentor to our senior staff and also to senior clinicians nationally who undertake clinical MSc degrees. I also provide mentorship for clinicians who don’t have local support.

I am an Adjunct Reader with Imperial College London. This reflects my research profile within the College where I sit within their Human Performance Group. I have a laboratory situated in the clinical department where I spend the other 50% of my time as a researcher. Here I support the research of post graduate students who are Allied Health Professionals, bioengineers, medics and neurophysiologists. Finally, my role is as a mentor to Allied Health Professionals through my membership of the London hub of the Council for Allied Health Professional Research (CAHPR).

Background:

I am a physiotherapist specialising in the care of musculoskeletal (MSK) patients and researching the impact of MSK problems and physiotherapy upon movement and its control. I have been a clinician, sitting mainly in secondary care since 1987. I did an MSc in Advanced MSK Physiotherapy in 1994 when I was also granted membership to the Musculoskeletal Association of Chartered Physiotherapists. I then became a lecturer, a private clinician and a clinician sitting in primary care before I undertook a PhD at University College London in neurophysiology. I have mixed clinical work with research since that time.

Clinical/academic interests:

I am interested in the effective implementation of evidence based physical therapies to musculoskeletal patients. I am particularly interested in treating patients with chronic musculoskeletal problems such as those with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome. I am also interested in skills associated with facilitating clinical acumen as well as supporting clinicians to become researchers.

I am a member of various strategic committees and panels; the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Peer Research Committee, the Imperial non-medical clinical academic committee and I am on a judging panel for an HTA grant panel. I am a mentor and Treasurer for the London hub of the CAHPR and a mentor for clinicians submitting abstracts to the World Congress of Physiotherapists.

Research interests:

My research interests include investigation of the cortical and reflex control of movement using transcranial magnetic stimulation and electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves. I am particularly interested in the movement and control of movement in healthy people and in people with musculoskeletal problems such as Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (JHS) and shoulder instability. Currently I have a team exploring different factors related to people with JHS; kinematics and kinetics of the knee, rate of change of leg muscle strength, motor control of leg muscles and finally the patients’ journey through secondary care. I also continue to investigate the cortical control of scapula muscles in healthy individuals. Finally, I am a supervisor of an Occupational Therapist holding a NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship who is exploring factors important to neuropathic pain in patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Motivations for mentoring:

Although I am interested in the strategic development of professional practice and clinical research, and I am involved in various strategic committees, there is no doubt that my main interest and enjoyment comes from the one to one approach of mentoring, supporting and facilitating the development of individual staff and students.

My mentoring style:

To listen, reflect, support, challenge, be positive and build confidence. I expect honesty and openness as well as the mentee understanding what they would like to gain from mentorship.

I can offer experience and perspective of working within the NHS, combining a clinical and academic role. I can offer my experience of progressing from a clinician through to a senior clinical academic. I can offer my experience of mentoring clinicians and academics from various professional backgrounds. I can offer an ability to hear and synthesis information to get to the heart of people’s issues rather than dwell on the minutia.

Last three publications:

Shaheen AF, Bull AMJ, Alexander C.M. (2015) Rigid and Elastic Taping Changes Scapular Kinematics and Pain in Subjects with Shoulder Impingement Syndrome; an Experimental Study. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 25(1):84-92

Navsaria R, Lewis J, Ryder D, Alexander C.M. (2015) The Elbow-EpiTrainer: a method of delivering graded resistance to the extensor carpi radialis brevis. Effectiveness of a prototype device in a healthy population. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Br J Sports Med 2015;49:318-322

Bates, A.V. and Alexander C.M. (2015) Kinematics and kinetics in people who are hypermobile. A systematic review. Gait and Posture. 41, (2): 361–369