Haematology team leader Camelia Vladescu achieves National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Doctoral Award

12 March 2026

The NIHR Doctoral Award is a flexible scheme that enables health and social care professionals to complete a PhD in applied health or social care research over 3 years.

Camelia was previously an applicant of our Research Fellowship Programme, which offers funding to staff members at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to conduct academic research, and provides time and resources for participants to undertake their own research project. Camelia’s research fellowship focused on the role of gut bacteria in relation to immune thrombocytopenia.

On her achievement, Camelia said:

“I’m hugely grateful to Imperial Health Charity for supporting my pre-doctoral fellowship, which gave me the dedicated time to establish this research and generate the pilot data that led to my NIHR Doctoral Fellowship.

"My PhD will explore the gut microbiome in immune thrombocytopenia, and I hope that it will lead to new treatment targets and more options beyond current immunosuppressive therapies.”

Huge congratulations to Camelia and the best of luck with your research!