Published: 24 March 2021
The NIHR has appointed Professor Ruth Endacott to the newly created role of NIHR Director for Nursing and Midwifery. She will take up the role in May.
Ruth is currently Senior Professor of Clinical Nursing at the University of Plymouth and Professor of Clinical Nursing at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She is also Deputy Panel Chair for the Health Education England/ NIHR Clinical Doctorate Research Fellow Scheme and an external assessor for multiple grant programmes, including for NIHR. She sits on the editorial advisory board of the journal Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, presents at conferences all over the world and is widely published. Ruth is a registered nurse and has an MA in Research Methodology and a PhD in Medical Science.
The NIHR Director for Nursing and Midwifery is a new role created to provide professional leadership for the thousands of nurses and midwives who lead, support or deliver research for the NIHR or who participate in academic research training funded by NIHR. Ruth will be responsible for promoting these professions within NIHR and across the research arena more broadly. She will also highlight the difference that nurses and midwives can make to health and social care outcomes through research, and encourage more professionals to become research active.
Dr Louise Wood CBE, Director of Science Research and Evidence at the Department of Health and Social Care and NIHR co-lead, said: “I’m pleased to welcome Ruth to NIHR as its first Director for Nursing and Midwifery. Nurses and midwives play an immensely important role in leading and delivering high-quality research. Ruth’s senior academic and clinical experience will be invaluable as we continue to engage all healthcare professions in research, celebrating and championing the contribution of nurses and midwives.”
Professor Ruth Endacott said: “I am delighted to be appointed as the first Director for Nursing and Midwifery at the NIHR. The huge successes in recruiting patients to COVID-19 studies highlights the amazing work that research nurses and midwives do every day, but we need to work out where investment is needed to firmly embed research as the business of every nurse and midwife. This role provides an opportunity to develop the next stages of research strategy for the nurses and midwives who work for, or are supported by, NIHR and to spearhead equality of opportunity across NHS Trusts of different size and resources.”
Ruth will work closely with the office of the Chief Nursing Officer for England.