The Insider’s guide to the
Academic Foundation Programme!
Dr Peter Steed
Dr Hannah Smith
Academic F2 Doctors
Bristol Royal Infirmary/UoB
Introduction
• A bit about us and how we ended up doing an
Academic Foundation Programme
• What we did for our research projects
• A week in the life of an AF2
• The best and worst things about being an AF2
• Top tips + Questions
Pete
• Intercalated BSc Physiological Sciences (2005)
• Graduated 2008 University of Bristol MBChB
(Hons)
• F1 Year BRI
Surgery/Respiratory Medicine/Palliative Care
• AF2 Year BRI:
Laboratory science/ITU/Paeds (renal)
Career Intentions
• Applying for ACCS (Acute Care Common Stem)
• Physiology tutor to the 1st year medical students
• Keen to be involved in medical education –
hope to undertake certificate in medical
education (MSc) in the future
My research
• Working in physiology department with Julian
Paton
• Looking at the pathogenesis of essential
hypertension
“A Comparative Histological Study of Basilar
Artery Morphology in Spontaneously
Hypertensive Rats and Normotensive Controls”
Expected Outcomes
• Still in process of collecting data
• Will be submitting an abstract in march for
Physiology 2010 in Manchester (annual
meeting of the Physiological Society)
• Starting to write draft paper for publication
Hannah
• Didn’t fancy intercalating
• BSc not essential for AF2 – but be prepared to
justify!
• Graduated 2008 University of Bristol
MBChB(Hons)
• Doing “Clinical Epidemiology/Public Health”
AF2
• F1: Respiratory Med/Palliative Care/Surgery
• F2: Research/GUM/Paeds A+E
My Research
• Knew I wanted to do Orthopaedics since
medical school
• Strategically applied for Epidemiology AF2 Post
as knew it was relevant to all specialties
• Very flexible – supervisor agreed I could do a
project relevant to Orthopaedics
My Research Cont’d
• Given dataset from previous cohort study
(“Kinemax Outcomes Study”)
• Brilliant because:
 Ethics approval already obtained
 Data already collected
 All I had to do was analyse the data and write up
the paper
My Research Cont’d
• “The impact of total knee arthroplasty on the
natural history of the contralateral knee”
• 772 patients followed up for 2 years, both knees
scored at 4 timepoints
• The hypothesis: If a patient has a bad outcome
after primary arthroplasty then their
contralateral knee with deteriorate more quickly
• Currently:
 Abstract submitted to BOA Conference 2010
 Provisional draft of paper to co-authors
 Submit to journal in Jan
A week in the life of an AF2
Monday
Research Post
(4 months)
Lab
Clinical Postx2
(4 months)
Hospital
Tuesday
Teaching
Hospital
Wednesday
Hospital
Lab
Thursday
Lab
Hospital
Friday
Lab
Hospital
The best things about AF2
• Great experience in research that
other F2’s don’t have
• Dedicated academic teaching
programme
• Great for the CV – will get
publications/posters/presentations
etc
• Can do other qualifications eg.
STATA course, teaching courses
etc
The best things about AF2
• Flexible in what you do your project in (some)
• Prestigious – competitive entry as
undergraduate
• Good hours so can revise for membership
exams (not officially supposed to!)
• Social
• ? Advantage at CT/ST Training applications
The worst things about AF2
• Got to achieve same clinical competencies as
non-academic colleagues in 2/3 of the time
• “Slackademics” – reputation
• Some jobs unbanded
• We nearly ended up on the F1 on call rota –
vulnerable minority!
The worst things about AF2
• Research component can be lonely/frustrating
• For the surgeons: placements all quite
medically biased, only one surgical AF2 post
• For unfortunate few – projects don’t take off, too
big to do in 4 months, ethics approval issues
etc
Top Tips
• BSc not vital: can demonstrate academic
potential via ranking/distinctions/publications
etc
• Think carefully about how it fits in with your
career intentions
• Surgeons may want to look at other deaneries
• Prepare for the interview
• Good luck!
Questions