Category: Research Partnership Team (Yellow)
Dr Helen Barratt
Helen is a consultant in public health medicine and a health services researcher. She is a member of the CLAHRC research partnership team, and Deputy Director of the CLAHRC Academy. Her research uses qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate health care and public health services.
EMmY Trial Protocol
Bart’s Research Centre for Women’s Health is up and running with the EMmY study
We’re delighted to announce our latest research partnership – with the the Bart’s Research Centre for Women’s Health (BARC) .
BARC was launched in June 2017 and is led by Professors Shakila Thangaratinam and Khalid Khan.
The Centre is funded by Barts Charity and based within Queen Mary University of London at the Whitechapel campus.
The centre team (pictured above) will focus on improving the health of mothers and babies in East London, addressing healthcare challenges such as diabetes, obesity and heavy blood loss during childbirth.
The first BARC study is set to start in January 2018 – “EMmY: Effectiveness and acceptability of myo-inositol nutritional supplement in the prevention of gestational diabetes: a pilot placebo controlled double blind randomised trial”.
EmMY will aim to randomise 200 women who are at risk of developing gestational diabetes, across three sites (Barts Health, Guy’s and St Thomas’, and Central Manchester University NHS Trusts).
Participants will be randomised to receive either 4g of Myo-inositol – a naturally occurring substance produced in the human body that belongs to the vitamin B complex group – or placebo study supplement daily, from the end of the first trimester until delivery.
The pilot will examine rates of recruitment and randomisation to the trial, and rates of adherence to the intervention. Researchers will analyse reasons for participation, non-participation, and non-adherence to the trial protocol. Any preliminary estimates and insight into trial procedures from the EMmY study will then inform a future large-scale trial.
The CLAHRC is supporting the study by providing health economic analysis for the pilot and full trial and assisting with patient and public involvement..
Contact Doris Lanz, BARC Senior Trial Manager for more info at d.lanz@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Elena Pizzo
Elena is a Senior Health Economics. She holds a PhD in Economics and Management from Padua University, a Master degree in Economics and Management of Health Care Services from Ferrara University and a first degree in Economics from Padua University.
Prior to coming to UCL she was a Research Associate at the Imperial College Business School, working on the economic evaluation of the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Northwest London.
She previously held a research post at the Department of Economics, Ferrara University, where she collaborated to a multi-year research project and undertook an economic evaluation of a Regional Colorectal Cancer Screening Program.
Mixed methods evaluation of the Getting it Right First Time programme – improvements to NHS orthopaedic care in England: study protocol
Epidemiology of Mental Health Attendances at Emergency Departments: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Dr Antonio Rojas-Garcia
Antonio holds a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in Research Methods and Implementation in Psychology and Health, both from the University of Granada, Spain. He has also been awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Granada, for his work in the Andalusian School of Public Health. During this time, he was part of several research projects, mostly focused on health inequalities and health systems, prior to joining UCL. Antonio has particular interest in research methods in health, mostly systematic reviews and meta-analysis.
Dr Fiona Aspinal
Fiona worked as a registered nurse in elderly care and palliative care settings and went on to complete a BA (Hons) in Social Policy and a MA in Public Policy and Administration. After conducting research on assessing outcomes of palliative care at Kings College London, Fiona completed her PhD in Politics/Health Sciences at the University of York.
Fiona has joined the North Thames CLAHRC this year after working as a Research Fellow in the Social Policy Research Unit, University of York since 2006, where she undertook complex evaluations of systems, services and interventions across health and social care settings using qualitative and mixed-methods approaches.
Dr Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths
Jasmina joined the RPT in January 2018. With undergraduate, MSc and DPhil degrees in applied mathematics, Jasmina’s research focuses on applying different quantitative techniques to explore a variety of biological and physiological systems, comminicable and non-communicable diseases and answer emerging public health and healthcare questions. In conjunction with her role within the RPT, Jasmina also holds Honorary Lectureships at the Department of Mathematics and Institute for Global Health at UCL and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), as well as an Honorary Academic Researcher Post at Public Health England.
