Linda Cantwell
Home Enteral Feeding Advanced Practitioner at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
About Linda
Linda Cantwell is a clinical academic researcher specializing in head and neck cancer prehabilitation. She focuses on developing and implementing nutritional and multi-modal interventions designed to improve patient outcomes before and during cancer treatment. Her work bridges clinical practice and research to enhance supportive care in oncology.
Full Name:
Current Role: Home Enteral Feeding Advanced Practitioner
Organisation: Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Email: linda.cantwell@merseycare.nhs.uk
Research Topic: co-creating and evaluating nutritional prehabilitation interventions within multi-modal approaches for patients with head and neck cancer,
NHS R&D Programme: Early Career Researcher Development Programme, HEE Bridging Scheme
Year of Cohort: 2019, 2022
Achievements and Research Impact
Following the Early Career Researcher Development Programme, Linda secured a PCAF Bridge award. Participation in the HEE Bridging Scheme led to an ARC internship to finalize her NIHR Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (DCAF) application. She was awarded the NIHR DCAF in 2024 and commenced her fellowship in January 2025, focusing on nutritional prehabilitation for head and neck cancer patients.
Publications:
Key publications include:
- DOI: 10.1007/s00520-022-07239-4
- DOI: 10.1111/coa.14094
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022215123001615 (Chapter 8)
These publications contribute important insights into prehabilitation and supportive care in oncology.
Reflections on the NHS R&D NW Programme
Linda describes the Early Career Researcher Development Programme as a crucial springboard that nurtured her clinical academic potential with supportive mentoring and coaching, injecting enthusiasm into her development. The HEE Bridging Scheme provided funding to undertake complex intervention training essential for crafting a successful NIHR DCAF application.
Professional Goals
Short-term: Successfully complete her NIHR DCAF project on nutritional prehabilitation for head and neck cancer.
Long-term: Lead multimodal prehabilitation research and establish herself as a clinical academic research leader in head and neck cancer supportive care.
Congratulations to Linda Cantwell her leadership and dedication to advancing patient-centered prehabilitation in oncology.
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