Staff Profile

Introduction

I graduated from Newcastle University Medical School in 2011 and completed my Foundation and Core Medical Training in the Northern region. I was appointed as a Specialty Registrar in Respiratory Medicine in 2015 and returned to Newcastle University in 2018 to undertake doctoral research into mechanisms of pulmonary inflammation in chronic lung disease and ageing. I was awarded my PhD in 2022 and was subsequently appointed as an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at Newcastle University. I see patients with interstitial lung diseases in my role as an Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Qualifications

MBBS, Newcastle University, 2011

MRCP(UK), Royal College of Physicians, 2015

Specialty Certificate Examination in Respiratory Medicine, 2019

PhD, Newcastle University, 2022

Postgraduate Certificate in Rare Lung Diseases, ERN-LUNG Academy, 2023

Other roles

Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Member, MRCP(UK) Clinical Science Specialty Question Group

Associate editor, Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Early Career Group Editor-in-Training, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

I undertake postdoctoral research in Professor John Simpson's lab. I have a research interest in the mechanisms of the resolution of inflammation in the lung, particularly in ageing and in critical illness. I am a co-investigator on the INSIGHT-AM trial, a study that seeks to explore the impact of inhaled sargramostim (GM-CSF) on the function of alveolar macrophages, a set of cells with an important role in lung inflammation and immunity. I also investigate the roles of lung immune cells in the exposure-related interstitial lung disease hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP).

Funding and prizes

EPSRC BIOREME Small Starter Grant, support for research visit to the Statistical Biophysics laboratory (Dr Aleksandra Walczak), École Normale Supérieure, Paris, 2025. £1,000

Google Cloud Academic Research Grant, T cell receptor repertoires in interstitial lung disease, 2024-2025. US$5,000

Medical Research Council Experimental Medicine grant: Key mechanisms underlying inhaled GM-CSF's enhancement of phagocytosis and bacterial clearance by human alveolar macrophages (researcher co-investigator; PI Prof John Simpson), 2022-2025. £1.24m

Royal Society of Medicine Respiratory Registrar Research Award, 2023. £100

Best Oral Presentation prize at 2020 NIHR Newcastle BRC Trainee Showcase. £100

Wellcome Trust ISSF Broadening Our Horizons fund, to attend Next Generation Sequencing Data Analysis: A Practical Introduction bioinformatics workshop in Munich, 8-10 May 2019. £1,941

• Articles

  • Sendama W, Funston W, Davidson RCH, Rostron AJ, Simpson AJ. T cell receptor sharing in hypersensitivity pneumonitis. bioRxiv 2024. Submitted.
  • Sendama W, Funston W, Rostron AJ, Simpson AJ. Tissue-Resident Memory T Cells Are Implicated in the Pathogenesis of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2023, 207(9), 1246-1249.
  • Musgrave KM, Scott J, Sendama W, Gardner AI, Dewar F, Lake CJ, Spronk HMH, van Oerle R, Visser M, ten Cate H, Kesteven P, Fuller A, McDonald D, Knill C, Hulme G, Filby A, Wright SE, Roy AI, Ruchaud-Sparagano M, Simpson AJ, Rostron AJ. Tissue factor expression in monocyte subsets during human immunothrombosis, endotoxemia and sepsis. Thrombosis Research 2023, 228, 10-20.
  • Elcioglu ZC, Errington L, Metes B, Sendama W, Powell J, Simpson AJ, Rostron AJ, Hellyer TP. Pooled prevalence of lymphopenia in all-cause hospitalisations and association with infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infectious Diseases 2023, 23, 848.
  • Sendama W. The effect of ageing on the resolution of inflammation. Ageing Research Reviews 2020, 57, 101000.
  • Sendama W. L1000 connectivity map interrogation identifies candidate drugs for repurposing as SARS-CoV-2 antiviral therapies. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal 2020, 18, 3947-3949.
  • Sendama W, Musgrave KM. Decision making with D-dimer in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. The American Journal of Medicine 2018, 131(12), 1438-1443.
  • Sendama W, Shipley M. Traumatic chylothorax, a case report and review. Respiratory Medicine Case Reports 2015, 14, 47-48.
  • Sendama W. Memories of a first patient. Student BMJ 2010, 18.

• Book Chapter

  • Sendama W, Simpson AJ, Ewan V. Severe hospital-acquired pneumonia. In: Sam Janes, ed. Encyclopedia of Respiratory Medicine (2nd edition). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier, 2022, pp.333-341.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Rafique C, Mitchell D, Ewart J, Forrest I, Funston W, Palmer E, Sendama W, Simpson AJ, Wiscombe S. P85 Outcomes for patients with lung cancer and ILD: a retrospective review of cases discussed at a regional ILD-MDT. In: British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting. 2024, London: BMJ Group.
  • Musgrave K, Scott J, Sendama W, Kesteven P, Ruchaud-Sparagano M, Rostron A, Simpson AJ. The differential surface expression of tissue factor between monocyte subsets. In: 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Society for Haematology. 2020, Birmingham, UK: Wiley.