Dr Barney Scholefield MBBS, BSc, MSc, MRCPCH, PhD

Dr Barney Scholefield

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Honorary Associate Professor in Paediatric Intensive Care

Contact details

Address
Birmingham Acute Care Research Group
University Hospital Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TH

Dr Barney Scholefield is a clinical academic researcher within the field of paediatric neuro-critical care and cardiac arrest resuscitation. He is a Clinician Scientist, leads the neuro-critical care programme at the Hospital for Sick Children’s (SickKids), Toronto, Canada and works in close collaboration with the Birmingham Acute Care Group, IIA and Research teams at Birmingham Children’s Hospital PICU. 

Qualifications

  • PhD Medicine, Warwick University, 2013
  • Master of Science in Critical Care, Cardiff University, 2010
  • Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2003
  • Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS), Guy’s, Kings and St Thomas’ Hospital, 2000
  • Bachelor of Science (Clinical Anatomy), 1997

Biography

Barney trained in Medicine at Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ hospital, London. He followed a career in paediatric medicine, training in the West-Midlands, sub-specialising in paediatric critical care. During his training he followed a parallel academic and research training programme, undertaking an MSc at Cardiff University and a PhD in Medicine at Warwick.

His post-doctoral research programme continued at the University of Birmingham whilst working since 2012 as a consultant in the Paediatric Intensive Care at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. In 2017 he commenced a five year, NIHR funded Clinician Scientist Fellowship continuing his research into prognosis and treatment of children after cardiac arrest. In 2023 he was appointed as Associate Professor and Faculty at the Department of Critical Care, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. 

Postgraduate supervision

Barney is interested in co-supervising doctoral research students who are interested in research in the field of paediatric acute and critical care, neuro-critical care, transport medicine and rehabilitation and mobilisation in collaboration with a primary supervisor at the University of Birmingham.

If you are interested in studying any of these subject areas please contact Dr Barney Scholefield directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings.

Research

Barney's current research interests include:

  • Evidence Synthesis and Systematic Review methodology in the field of paediatric resuscitation science
  • Early prognostic modelling of neurodevelopmental outcome for children after cardiac arrest
  • Post cardiac arrest neuroprotective interventions in children (eg. therapeutic hypothermia)
  • Prognostic value of neurophysiological monitoring (Cerebral Function Monitoring & EEG)
  • Pre-hospital resuscitation research
  • Paediatric critical care pragmatic trials

He recently held an NIHR Clinician Scientist Fellowship award for the NEUROdevelopmental Prognosis After Cardiac arrest in Kids programme (NEUROPACK study). He is the past-elected chair of the Paediatric Critical Care Society Study Group (PCCS-SG) leading UK wide collaborations in paediatric critical care trials and is the current co-chair of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Paediatric life support task force.

Barney was a Chief Investigator for the Paediatric Early Rehabilitation and Mobilisation Feasibility study, funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA). He has published peer-review articles on prognostic modelling, therapeutic hypothermia and feasibility of clinical trials. An enthusiastic teacher and communicator on the themes of hypothermia and post cardiac arrest management; lecturing widely at national and international level.

Other activities

Area of clinical expertise

  • Paediatric Intensive Care
  • Paediatric Critical Care Research and Clinical Trials
  • Paediatric Cardiac Intensive Care
  • Paediatric Neuro-Critical Care
  • Resuscitation and Post cardiac arrest management
  • Targeted temperature management for neuro-protection

Membership of Professional Bodies

  • Ontario Medical Association
  • College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario 
  • British Medical Association
  • Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
  • Birmingham Acute Care Research Group, University of Birmingham
  • International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation
  • Paediatric Critical Care Society, UK
  • Paediatric Critical Care Society – Study Group (research)
  • European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM)
  • European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC)

Other interests

  • Keen outdoor sportsman competing in triathlons, running, hiking and cycling; now that rugby hurts too much.
  • Plays the Trombone and Piano in a band ‘The Raggedy Edge’
  • Finds a little spare time to be father to four brilliant children….

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Zhang, Z, Kean, IRL, Dratva, LM, Clark, JA, Syrimi, E, Khan, N, Daubney, E, White, D, O’Neill, L, Chisholm, C, Payne, C, Benkenstein, S, Kupiec, K, Galassini, R, Wright, V, Winmill, H, Robbins, C, Brown, K, Ramnarayan, P, Scholefield, B, Peters, M, Klein, N, Montgomery, H, Meyer, KB, Teichmann, SA, Bryant, C, Taylor, G & Pathan, N 2024, 'Enhanced CD95 and interleukin 18 signalling accompany T cell receptor Vβ21.3+ activation in multi-inflammatory syndrome in children', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 4227. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48699-y

Oglesby, FC, Scholefield, BR, Cook, TM, Smith, JH, Pappachan, VJ, Kane, AD, Armstrong, RA, Kursumovic, E & Soar, J 2024, 'Peri‐operative cardiac arrest in children as reported to the 7th National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists', Anaesthesia. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.16251

McDevitt, WM, Farley, M, Martin-Lamb, D, Jones, TJ, Morris, KP, Seri, S & Scholefield, BR 2023, 'Feasibility of non-invasive neuro-monitoring during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in children', Perfusion, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 547-556. https://doi.org/10.1177/02676591211066804, https://doi.org/10.1177/02676591211066804

Thompson, JY, Menzies, JC, Manning, JC, Mcanuff, J, Brush, EC, Ryde, F, Rapley, T, Pathan, N, Brett, S, Moore, DJ, Geary, M, Colville, GA, Morris, KP, Parslow, RC, Feltbower, RG, Lockley, S, Kirkham, FJ, Forsyth, RJ & Scholefield, BR 2022, 'Early mobilisation and rehabilitation in the PICU: a UK survey', BMJ Paediatrics Open, vol. 6, no. 1, e001300. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001300

Darren, A, Osman, M, Masilamani, K, Habib Ali, S, Kanthimathinathan, HK, Chikermane, A, Al-Abadi, E, Welch, SB, Hackett, S, Scholefield, BR, Uday, S & Jyothish, D 2022, 'Vitamin D status of children with paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (PIMS-TS)', The British journal of nutrition, vol. 127, no. 6, pp. 896-903. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114521001562

Albargi, H, Mallett, S, Berhane, S, Booth, S, Hawkes, C, Perkins, GD, Foster, T, Scholefield, B & Michael, N 2021, 'Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation for paediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in England: an observational registry cohort study', Resuscitation, vol. 170, pp. 17-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.10.042

Mustafa, K, Buckley, H, Feltbower, R, Kumar, R & Scholefield, BR 2021, 'Epidemiology of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Critically Ill Children Admitted to Pediatric Intensive Care Units Across England: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study', Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 10, no. 9, e018177. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.018177

McDevitt, WM, Quinn, L, Bill, PR, Morris, KP, Scholefield, BR & Seri, S 2021, 'Reliability in the assessment of paediatric somatosensory evoked potentials post cardiac arrest', Clinical Neurophysiology, vol. 132, no. 3, pp. 765-769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2020.12.016

Syrimi, E, Fennell, E, Richter, A, Vrljicak, P, Stark, R, Ott, S, Murray, PG, Al-Abadi, E, Chikermane, A, Dawson, P, Hackett, S, Jyothish, D, Kanthimathinathan, HK, Monaghan, S, Nagakumar, P, Scholefield, BR, Welch, S, Khan, N, Faustini, S, Davies, K, Zelek, WM, Kearns, P & Taylor, GS 2021, 'The immune landscape of SARS-CoV-2-associated Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) from acute disease to recovery', iScience, vol. 24, no. 11, 103215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103215

McDevitt, W, Rowberry, TA, Davies, P, Bill, PR, Notghi, LM, Morris, K & Scholefield, B 2021, 'The prognostic value of somatosensory evoked potentials in children after cardiac arrest: the SEPIA Study', Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 30-35. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNP.0000000000000649

Deep, A & Scholefield, BR 2020, 'Acute kidney injury in pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 pandemic: experience from PICUs across United Kingdom.', Critical care medicine, vol. 48, no. 12, pp. 1809-1818. https://doi.org/10.1097/ccm.0000000000004662

Editorial

Sitch, A, Dekkers, O, Scholefield, B & Takwoingi, Y 2021, 'Introduction to diagnostic test accuracy studies', European Journal of Endocrinology, vol. 184, no. 2, pp. E5–E9. https://doi.org/10.1530/EJE-20-1239

Letter

Perez-Toledo, M, Faustini, SE, Jossi, SE, Shields, AM, Marcial‐Juarez, E, Kanthimathinathan, HK, Allen, JD, Watanabe, Y, Goodall, M, Willcox, BE, Willcox, CR, Salim, M, Wraith, DC, Veenith, TV, Syrimi, E, Drayson, MT, Jyothish, D, Al‐Abadi, E, Chikermane, A, Welch, SB, Masilamani, K, Hackett, S, Crispin, M, Scholefield, BR, Cunningham, AF & Richter, AG 2021, 'SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific IgG1/IgG3 but not IgM in children with Pediatric Inflammatory Multi‐System Syndrome', Pediatric allergy and immunology, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 1125-1129. https://doi.org/10.1111/pai.13504

Review article

McDevitt, W, Gul, T, Jones, T, Scholefield, B, Seri, S & Drury, N 2022, 'Perioperative electroencephalography in cardiac surgery with hypothermic circulatory arrest: a narrative review', Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery, vol. 35, no. 4, ivac198. https://doi.org/10.1093/icvts/ivac198

Brown, KL, Agrawal, S, Kirschen, MP, Traube, C, Topjian, A, Pressler, R, Hahn, CD, Scholefield, BR, Kanthimathinathan, HK, Hoskote, A, D'Arco, F, Bembea, M, Manning, JC, Hunfeld, M, Buysse, C & Tasker, RC 2022, 'The brain in pediatric critical care: unique aspects of assessment, monitoring, investigations, and follow-up', Intensive Care Medicine, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 535-547. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-022-06683-4

View all publications in research portal