Qualifications

PhD Manchester Metropolitan University 2012 - Physiology

MSc University of Bradford 2005 - Forensic Anthropology

BSc (Joint Hons) University of Leeds 2004 - Anatomy & Physiology

I am Programme Manager in the National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration - Greater Manchester (NIHR ARC-GM). I support the Organising Care, Digital Health and Capacity Building Themes. More about ARC-GM can be found here.

Biography

I graduated with an upper second class BSc in Anatomy & Physiology from the University of Leeds in 2004. Following this, I undertook a full-time taught MSc in Forensic Anthropology in the Department of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford, graduating in 2005. My MSc dissertation focussed on the utility of tarsal bones for the determination of sex of adult skeletal remains using the Christ Church Spitalfields osteological collection, housed at the Natural History Museum, London.

I became Editorial Assistant within the Medical Writing group at Covance Clinical Research Unit in Leeds in 2005, where I had previously worked in the Phase I Clinical Trials Unit as Clinical Technical Officer.

In 2006, I began my PhD at the Institute for Biomedical Research into Human Movement and Health, Manchester Metropolitan University. My PhD thesis was entitled, "The Effects of Testosterone, Lifelong Physical Activity and Resistive Exercise on Skeletal Muscle Structure and Function in Older Males," which I continued to write whilst working full-time at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. My PhD was awarded in 2012.

I began working as Spinal Research Coordinator at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust in April 2010. In 2012, I became Senior Research Associate within the Greater Manchester Neurosciences Centre at the Trust. I supported basic science and clinical research projects in both surgical (Spinal and Neurosurgical) and medical neurosciences (Neurology). I also coordinated the collection of human intervertebral disc tissue from patients undergoing routine spinal surgery at Salford Royal. This tissue is held at the Human Intervertebral Disc Tissue Bank within the Centre for Tissue Injury and Repair and is used in mostpart by the group of Prof. Judith Hoyland.

I took up the post of Research Programme Manager at the Bradford Institute for Health Research at Bradford Royal Infirmary in May 2015, working on a large NIHR-funded programme of research focussing on improving longer-term care for survivors of stroke. I left that post in August 2016 to join the University of Manchester as Research Fellow in the Wounds Research Group with whom I worked until 2021.

My PubMed bibliography can be found here.

Research interests

I have experience as an applied health researcher, having contributed to both primary and secondary research (systematic reviews) in several areas.

Other supervisions

I have supervised a number of paid Interns, several fourth year Undergraduate MBChB Student options projects and one international medical student as part of the Erasmus Programme whilst working at the University and in the NHS.

Collaborators and affiliated staff

Prof. Dame Nicky Cullum (Head of Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester)

Prof. Jo Dumville (Senior Lecturer, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester)

Dr Jacqueline Lavallee (Research Associate, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester)

Dr Gill Norman (Research Fellow, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester)

Grant Funding

NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme (£1,905,963) Co-applicant: Adjustable hook-and-loop-fastened compression systems for the treatment of venous leg ulcers (VenUS 6 Trial). Lead applicant Prof. Jo Dumville, The University of Manchester. Ref NIHR128625.

NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme (£486,571) Co-applicant: Surgical interventions to treat severe pressure sores (SIPS). Lead applicant Prof. Barnaby Reeves, University of Bristol. Ref NIHR127850.

NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (£158,534) Co-applicant: Evidence synthesis for pressure ulcer prevention and treatment. Lead applicant Prof. Jo Dumville, The University of Manchester. Ref PB-PG-1217-20006.

NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (£149,286) Co-applicant: Exploring barriers and facilitators to compression therapy for people with venous leg ulcers (VenUS V). Lead applicant Prof. Jo Dumville, The University of Manchester. Ref PB-PG-0817-20002.

MIMIT Innovation Award (£20,899) Co-applicant: Mobile phone tech: a novel diagnosis and assessment tool for Raynaud’s phenomenon and wound care. Lead applicant: Dr Mark Dickinson.

Healthcare Infection Society Small Research Grant 2013 (£9,046) Lead applicant: Evaluating the treatment of surgical site infection (SSI) in patients undergoing surgery for spinal metastases.

Cervical Spine Research Society (European Section) 2012 Mario Boni Research Grant (€21,427) Co-applicant: Cervical intervertebral disc degeneration: assessment by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and histology.

Foundation URGO Award 2011 (£19,000) Co-applicant: Assessing key risk factors for wound healing in patients undergoing surgery for spinal metastases.

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

ComplexWounds@Manchester Biobank Ethics Advisory Group (Member, January 2019 – present).

NIHR Dissemination Centre (Abstract Rater, 2015 - 2019)

Abstract Committee, 26^th Cochrane Colloquium, Santiago, Chile (Abstract Reviewer, October 2019).

Abstract Committee, 25^th Cochrane Colloquium, Edinburgh, UK (Abstract Reviewer, September 2019).

School of Human and Health Sciences Research Ethics Panel, University of Huddersfield (Lay Member, 2014 - 2016).

Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Short Focussed Subgroup: Recommendations for Compliance with the HII Care Bundle and Prevention of SSI (Integrated Pathway, May 2012).

Skin Interface Sciences Research Group, University of Huddersfield (Honorary Member, 2013 - 2015).

Salford Royal Researchers' Forum (2010 - 2014).

The Physiological Society (2010 - 2015).

The Anatomical Society (2007 - 2015).

British Association for Human Identification (2005 - 2006).

I peer review manuscripts for a number of journals on an ad hoc basis. I have reviewed submissions for the following:

BMC Infectious Diseases

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

BMJ Open

Cochrane Wounds

International Wound Journal

Journal of Hospital Infection

Journal of Wound Care

Neurosurgcial Review

Systematic Reviews

The Neurohospitalist