绿帽换妻

Profile

I am an applied health researcher at 绿帽换妻 Institute of Health Sciences. I have substantial experience in qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods for applied health research, with particular expertise in complex intervention development and evaluation and evidence synthesis. My research interests include the organisation and delivery of post-stroke care, life after stroke, ageing and frailty, care homes, and inequalities. 

My first degree was an MA(Hons) in economics from the University of Edinburgh. I subsequently studied for an MSc at the 绿帽换妻 where I received a distinction in multidisciplinary informatics (specialising in healthcare). I won funding to conduct a follow-on PhD, awarded in 2011, which used an ethnographically informed case study approach with process modelling to explore the way renal anaemia management is organised and provided in local systems and how this impacts on clinical performance. 

I joined the Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research (formerly known as Elderly Care and Rehabilitation) following my PhD where I have led or collaborated on a large number of projects and grant applications. 

My first-author publications have been cited in multiple clinical guidelines, including the Royal College of Physicians’ National clinical guideline for stroke, and other highly cited publications.  I have won awards including the Elizabeth Brown prize for best platform presentation at the British Geriatrics Society spring conference 2023; the Society for Research in Rehabilitation prize for stroke rehabilitation research at the UK Stroke Forum 2019; best poster in the Information Provision to Patients section at UK Stroke Forum 2018; and recognition for patient, carer and public involvement at the UK Stroke Forum 2015.

Research interests

I provide a leadership role within the ASR for systematic reviews and have managed multiple teams of researchers. I am first author of the Cochrane review of , and the Cochrane review of . I have led systematic reviews into the and . Most recently, I led a large mixed-methods evidence synthesis of community-based complex interventions to sustain independence in older people using network meta-analysis, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme and .

I have substantial experience in the development and evaluation of complex interventions. This includes a major role in the design, implementation and refinement of a self-management intervention (New Start) to enhance the quality of life of stroke survivors and their carers in the longer term (LoTS-2-Care programme), jointly designing the subsequent process evaluation embedded in a cluster-randomised feasibility trial. Additionally, the FORECAST study has recently co-produced an intervention to improve conversations about recovery after stroke, following on from Louisa Burton’s PhD in this area, which used a range of research methods including an ethnographic study in two stroke rehabilitation wards.

Current and recent projects include:

• (Stroke Association) using case studies in three different three stroke units, each with access to green space designed and used for different purposes, with contextual data, behavioural mapping and interviews. Then, developing recommendations with expert groups around the country;
• () using big data to identify ethnicity-based and intersectional inequities in the TIA pathway and outcomes, in-depth qualitative study to understand how the basis of these findings, and co-production of culturally appropriate solutions;
• Developing the UK Multiple Long-Term Conditions Trials Collaborative (UK MTC) Team (NIHR) to transform understanding of treatment effects and prognosis for people with multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) (MLTC) using individual participant data (IPD) from trials;
• (Research England); and
• Initial steps in the development of a core outcome set (COS) for the treatment and prevention of post-stroke psychological problems (MRC-NIHR TMRP).

Primary investigator (PI)

• UK Multiple Long-Term Conditions Trials Collaborative (UK MTC) Team

Qualifications

• PhD School of Medicine, 绿帽换妻, 2011
• MSc Multidisciplinary Informatics, 绿帽换妻, 2005
• MA (Hons) Economics, University of Edinburgh, 2002

Student education

I teach systematic review methods at postgraduate level.

Research groups and institutes

• 绿帽换妻 Institute of Health Sciences
• Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research