Meet Paul and Meena – our new Clinical Directors of research, innovation and child health technology!

Research, innovation and child health technology are a huge and important part of the work we do here at Sheffield Children’s as they help us provide the best care possible for children and young people now and in the future.

We have a strong history of driving child health technology development – which we’ve been doing for over 10 years now – and we’re really proud that we have world leading researchers working with us too.

This year we launched our Research and Innovation Strategy to help us become one of the leading hospitals nationally and internationally for paediatric innovation and research, and we are working towards developing the first National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT), as well as some other exciting plans we’ll be able to talk more about soon!

To support this work in the best way possible we’ve seen some exciting staff changes over the last few months. We’re really pleased to share that we now have two Clinical Directors dedicated to research, innovation and child health technology and they are Professor Paul Dimitri and Dr Meena Balasubramanian.

Paul has moved from his previous role of Clinical Director for Research and Innovation, to become the Clinical Director for Innovation and Child Health Technology. Paul has led work to develop the NCCHT since its inception and we are delighted that he will now be able to focus on this important national area. The Centre will be based at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and will be a place to design, create, test and put into practice child health technologies, as well as being a place for excellent, state of the art, patient care.

Paul said: “It has been a privilege to service as Director of Research and Innovation over the last 11 years. I have worked with the team to position Sheffield Children’s as a leader in research and innovation and to expand the team from 10 people in 2012 to nearly 50 in 2023. We have made huge advances to develop research and innovation at Sheffield Children’s, and we have a highly competent and motivated team.

“Moving to a new role as the first Clinical Director of Technology and Innovation is incredibly exciting, especially with the timing of the development of the NCCHT, and Meena will start at an exciting time with the launch of the new and ambitious Research Strategy. I would like to thank all the team for their hard work and determination in making research a success, and wish Meena all the very best in her new position as Clinical Director of Research.”

Meena Balasubramanian was appointed as our new Clinical Director of Research earlier this year, and she is already leading on increasing the research we do across Sheffield Children’s. Meena brings her own strong research background in musculoskeletal genetics, and her existing role as a clinical academic working across Sheffield Children’s and the University of Sheffield.

Meena said: “I am delighted to be appointed as the Clinical Director of Research. I would like to put Sheffield Children’s on the international map for paediatric research. I feel passionate about building existing strengths in Sheffield Children’s, collaborating with academic institutions in the region and spear-heading the next generation of clinical and allied health academics so research is at the heart of everything we do at the Children’s as we move forward with implementing our new research strategy.

“Curiosity and knowing why things happen has always driven my research in medicine. I believe as a healthcare professional, research is absolutely crucial to provide evidence-based, exceptional care to the children we look after.”

We’re excited at all there is to come and will share more updates about research, innovation and technology in the coming months.