Training Programme Director - Suzanne Elcombe
Specialty Programme Coordinator - Joanne O'Brien
People Services Officer - Lead Employer Trust - Allyson Ashwell / Christian Collins - 0191 275 4753/4783
Welcome to Immunology. We aim to provide useful information to potential future and current Immunology Specialist Trainees, Immunology Trainers and all others interested in the immunology training opportunities in Health Education North East. We hope you will find this website a useful resource and an easy way of finding links to immunology related sites.
The medical specialty of immunology deals with the clinical and laboratory care of patients with diseases due to disordered immunity. There is a large range of diseases that this covers from failure of the immune system (immunodeficiency) to disorders that are characterized by heightened immune reactivity (allergy and autoimmunity). Practically, this leads to clinical immunologists displaying a leading role in the investigation and management of these patients.
Most immunologists will also have responsibility for a laboratory which provides a service to several hospitals or even a region. Some of the tests are relatively uncommon, and a large population is needed to generate the workload so that tests are done frequently enough to maintain expertise. The core repertoire is the investigation of autoimmune disease, specialised immunochemistry, as well as the numbers and function of cells of the immune system. Many trainees also do in vitro testing for allergies; some are involved in transplantation and immunogenetics.
The staff are used to introducing and developing new tests, and the skills and experience that are needed attract and motivate high quality scientists, often with a strong research background. As a relatively new specialty, immunology is on its mettle to show it can add more value to tests which might otherwise be a side-line done by another pathology discipline. This healthy competition means the immunologist needs to be a politician as well as an enthusiast.
Specialty training from ST1, in immunology, takes 7 years of training when in full time training. Training in HEENE also consists of being based and trained at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) which is in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne.
To find out more about our region and Trusts please visit the Find Your Place website.
To find out more about Histopathology training in HEENE please visit Day In The Life
as well as the Immunology Curriculum.