Day in the life of an Allied Health Professional
Naman one of our Allied Health Professional (AHP) clinical advisor’s tells us about his role and why it is so important.
“Justice is what I’m striving for, for people like me to be seen in medical imagery, education and across assessment tools where my skin tone is often not visible.”
Meet Naman
As a therapeutic radiographer working at an advanced practice level, no two days are the same. My role spans not just the delivery of expert clinical care, but also leadership, research, service development, and education. I’m currently working as a research radiographer leading on my own research study looking to address structural racism and lack of equity for people of colour in radiotherapy skin reaction assessment.
Alongside this, I’m also an Allied Health Professional (AHP) clinical advisor for Macmillan, supporting diverse teams, mentoring professionals, and helping shape patient-centred initiatives. I am also proud to be the co-founder of Rad Chat podcast and education platform, we are in the top 1% in the world for podcast content creation, being listened to in 130 countries and accredited as continual professional development (CPD).
This is what a typical day might look like for me across my two main roles
My day usually begins nice and early with a 6:15am gym class at my local community gym Elements in London. Back home to help with our 9-month-old with breakfast and some play time! Then onto work either in person at the hospital or our new Macmillan offices, or to the spare room when I can work from home.
The beauty of being a therapeutic radiographer, is that we can deliver cutting edge and innovative treatments with linear accelerators (LINAC), work in clinical education, lead research studies and be involved in leadership.
When I’ve been running on-treatment review clinics for people experiencing physical and psychosocial side effects of cancer treatment, we’d always start the day with a team huddle. It’s important for teamworking to ensure we are prepared for every person living with and beyond cancer that comes through the door.
Between clinical responsibilities, I have had the opportunities to shift gears to support education and development. This might mean running short training sessions around side effect management, supervising students, or mentoring colleagues preparing for their own advanced practice roles.
I also regularly contribute to research through departmental audits, service evaluations, or by co-authoring local protocols. I help ensure that what we do is not only current but continually improving, guided by outcomes and best practice. The ‘fun’ side of this is being able to attend conferences around the world to present work, network and learn. I am looking forward to what my research will uncover this year, but I am honoured to have helped change practice internationally within oncology and wider already. Justice is what I’m striving for, for people like me to be seen in medical imagery, education and across assessment tools where my skin tone is often not visible.
I’ve also dabbled into leadership duties, whether managing workflow, guiding junior staff, or contributing to wider discussions on pathway development. The leadership pillar comes alive here, helping shape not only how we deliver care, but how we support and empower each other as professionals.
Outside of my NHS role, working with Macmillan is incredible thanks to the amazing opportunities. This role doesn’t always feel like work and allows me to extend my impact across the health and care system in ways I never thought possible! On a day-to-day basis I may have lots of meetings with various colleagues across the organisation.
Supporting Teams and Services
I provide guidance to frontline staff across various teams, supporting hospital services, community-based initiatives, and telephone helplines. I help shape safe, consistent, and compassionate support for people living with and beyond cancer.
Corporate Partnerships
I work with corporate partners to pilot new innovations and educational resources, ensuring they’re clinically sound and truly helpful to patients and professionals. This involves everything from digital tool reviews to input on public health campaigns.Mentorship and Professional Support
I mentor other professionals working in or transitioning into advanced roles, providing a space for reflection, skill-building, and confidence development. Supporting others in their career journey is a huge passion of mine.Advocacy and Awareness
Through webinars, articles, and events, I help raise awareness of the role of radiotherapy, promote access to accurate information, and support charity-led initiatives to reduce inequalities in cancer care. This includes many high-profile events at the house of commons, media opportunities and conferences across the UK.Then going home to my family for a bit of down time, food and chill.
Some nights of the week I may also be recording episodes for Rad Chat podcast or editing previous episodes ready for publishing too. I’ve brought my editing time down per episode from many hours down to on average under an hour. Audio and video editing upskilling has never come up on a previous appraisal before, but I find it therapeutic, especially with the high-quality guests we’re fortunate to have come on and share their stories with us. I’m also really proud of our free, CPD accredited image library hosting crowdsourced and verified images of skin changes on a variety of skin tones along with anatomical illustrations in a variety of skin tones.
What drives me is the privilege of supporting people living with and beyond cancer. Either in my clinical and research roles, through Macmillan and also Rad Chat. Having a mix of roles, responsibilities and direction motivate me to keep driving for equity.
If you’re considering progressing into an advanced role or getting involved with a charity, I wholeheartedly encourage it. The opportunities to grow both professionally and personally are immense, and the ripple effect for people living with and beyond cancer, teams, and services is truly powerful.