In August 2014 I finished a PhD with Imperial College, MRC-PHE centre for environment and health, focusing on the effects of personal air pollution. Apart from a background in science, I always had an interest in communicating scientific knowledge. During my PhD I therefore volunteered within science and museum communications for the Medical Research Council, London Science Museum, Medway Science Centre and Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood. I joined the NIHR CLAHRC funded School-based Asthma Project (SAP) in September 2014, for which I am responsible for Outreach and Learning. My role includes recruitment and liaison with currently 50 different partner organisations, of which 24 are schools, others are research organisations, health organisations, and a variety of private companies. In the first year of the project I organised questionnaire sessions in our partner schools with altogether 799 asthmatic secondary school students. A current focus of my work is the content development and testing of workshops and their educational elements, planned as part of a school-based asthma self-management intervention. One element of the planned workshops is an asthma game for which the final development and wider dissemination (both for a board game and a computer game version) are planned for 2016.
Month: October 2016
Prof James Thomas
James Thomas is Professor of Social Research & Policy and Assistant Director for Health and Wellbeing at the Institute of Education. He directs the EPPI-Centre’s Systematic Review Facility for the Department of Health, England, which undertakes systematic reviews across a range of policy areas to support the department. He specialises in developing methods for research synthesis, in particular for qualitative and mixed methods reviews and in using emerging information technologies such as text mining in research.
Dr Fiona Hamilton
Fiona is currently working on the Digital Alcohol Management on Demand (DIAMOND) feasibility trial comparing face to face alcohol treatment with supported access to web based treatment for hazardous or harmful drinkers.
I worked as a GP for five years in South London before training in Public Health Medicine. My PhD examined the impact of pay for performance (such as the national Quality & Outcomes Framework) on smoking cessation work in primary care, and alcohol screening and brief intervention, with a focus on inequalities. My current research area is e-Health initiatives to address behaviour change in people with hazardous and harmful alcohol use.
Dr Lorelei Jones
I am an anthropologist with interests in organisations, professions and expertise. My doctoral research was on the politics of hospital planning in England. My current work is looking at the role of boards in quality improvement in hospitals. I am co-convener of the London Medical Sociology Group and a member of the Society for Studies in Organizing Healthcare.
Dr Jessica Sheringham
Dr Jessica Sheringham has research interests in questions that have an impact on reducing inequalities in healthcare and access to appropriate healthcare. Her research spans respiratory disease sexual health and cancer, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. She is also an honorary consultant in public health at Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Marissa Mes
Marissa is a Dutch-Japanese student with a background in Psychology. She completed a BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a Major in Psychology and a Minor in Statistics at University College Utrecht in the Netherlands. This was followed by an MSc in Health Psychology (University of Bath) and an internship with the HealthTalk project at the Health Experiences Research Group (University of Oxford). Marissa’s work includes both qualitative and quantitative research. Her research interests include patient experiences of chronic illness, health inequalities, intervention implementation, and public health.
Caroline Katzer
Caroline has completed a BSc in Psychology at University of Mannheim in Germany and an MSc in Health Psychology at University of Surrey. Throughout her undergraduate degree in Mannheim she worked as a Research Assistant in the Judgement and Decision Making lab. She has experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methodology. Caroline’s research interests include the development of complex interventions, treatment and illness perceptions in chronically ill patients, adherence to treatment as well as behaviour change in general.
Wendy Chandler
Ruth Plackett
Ruth’s PhD is exploring whether using new educational technologies, such as online simulation, can improve the teaching of clinical reasoning skills for medical students. Ruth, along with her supervisors and medical experts has developed an electronic clinical reasoning educational simulation tool (eCREST). ECREST shows patients in general practice, all patients presenting with vague, non-specific respiratory symptoms, which could be indicative of serious conditions that are often missed in primary, such as lung cancer. This will allow students to practise gathering information from a patient, interpret that information and make informed decisions on diagnosis and management. Ruth is currently conducting a feasibility randomised controlled trial at three medical schools, to see whether it can improve clinical reasoning skills, and a qualitative think aloud interview study, to explore how eCREST can help students to learn clinical reasoning skills. This PhD aims to improve future doctors’ awareness of the presentation of potentially serious conditions, such as lung cancer in primary care, to help reduce future diagnostic errors.
Sarah Beardon
Before starting her PhD research, Sarah worked for the UCL Centre for Access to Justice undertaking a research project with the UCL integrated Legal Advice Clinic. This work focussed on the connections between legal problems and health, and included conducting a mixed methods evaluation exploring potential health impacts of legal advice and the experience of collaborative working between healthcare and legal advice services.
Previously, Sarah worked for the Patient Experience Research Centre at Imperial College London, where her projects included questionnaire development and testing, analysis of patient feedback (quantitative and qualitative) and systematic reviews. She has also worked at Cancer Research UK in the Statistical Information team, producing analysis to support the charity’s communications work.
Sarah graduated with a first class honours in Biology (BSc) followed by a Masters in Public Health (MPH). Her research uses mixed methodology and she has a particular interest in health inequalities and social determinants of health.
