At Rosetrees, we are committed to supporting innovative research and the next generation of clinical academics. Through our partnership with the Francis Crick Institute, the Crick–Rosetrees Fellowship provides a vital opportunity for early-career clinician scientists to develop independent research alongside their clinical work.

One of our current fellows, Dr Shahana Sengupta, exemplifies the ambition and interdisciplinary thinking this programme is designed to nurture.

Shahana began her academic journey with a DPhil in Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, where she focused on the functional characterisation of type 2 diabetes-associated risk loci. She then pursued medical training in London, motivated by a long-standing interest in understanding how cellular and mechanistic processes underpin human disease.

Now a postdoctoral clinical fellow in Neil McDonald’s lab at the Francis Crick Institute, Shahana is investigating cellular signalling pathways involving TrkB, a receptor tyrosine kinase that plays a key role in neuronal development and plasticity. While still an emerging field, this area of research holds promise for applications in neurodegenerative disease and potentially broader clinical contexts.

Alongside her research, Shahana continues to work in intensive care at a busy district general hospital in Kent. Her dual role reflects the core aim of the fellowship: to enable clinicians to bridge discovery science and patient care.

Shahana’s path into academic medicine has not followed a traditional route. Like many early-career clinicians interested in research, she has faced structural challenges, including limited access to funding streams and fewer opportunities outside established training pathways. The Crick–Rosetrees Fellowship is designed to address this gap—supporting talented individuals at a pivotal stage before higher specialty training, and enabling them to define their own clinical academic trajectory.

Reflecting on her experience, Shahana highlights the value of the Crick’s collaborative environment and the support of its clinical academic community in helping her navigate this path.

We are proud to support fellows like Shahana Sengupta, whose work represents the future of translational research—bringing scientific discovery closer to patient benefit.