Keynote speaker and Presenter Biographies
Keynote Speakers
Prof Richard Neal - 'Researching cancer diagnosis and screening'
Prof Richard Neal is Professor of Primary Care at the University of Exeter and a GP at St Leonard’s Practice in Exeter. Prior to moving to Exeter he held similar posts at the Universities of Leeds and Bangor. His research over the past 20+ years has focused on cancer diagnosis and screening. Amongst other things, he chairs the RCGP Scientific Foundation Board, is Deputy Head of the Department of Health and Community Sciences at Exeter, is Co-Chief Investigator of the NHS-Galleri Trial, and a Trustee of Prostate Cancer UK.
Dr Jess Watson - 'My early career journey in diagnostic research: lessons from inflammatory marker testing"'Dr Jess Watson is a GP and Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Bristol She completed her mixed-methods PhD on the topic of inflammatory marker testing in primary care in 2021, for which she was awarded the SAPC Doctoral Prize in 2022. She has a broad interest in the rational use of blood tests for primary care diagnosis, and communication of blood tests between doctors and patients. Outside of work she is a busy Mum of four and enjoys outdoor swimming and playing the violin.
Presenters
NIHR infrastructures presentation
Prof Lorraine Harper is the NIHR Deputy Dean for Academic Programmes and supports the NIHR Academy’s development and implemented strategic changes to training, including changes to lecturer appointments. She graduated in medicine from Edinburgh university, undertook nephrology training in Birmingham where she completed a PhD in neutrophil biology. In addition to combining clinical practice with academic research, Lorraine has supported trainees to pursue an academic career for many years, first supervising clinical PhDs, as integrated academic training director at University Birmingham, and as associate dean for academic programmes at Health Education England - West Midlands.
Pam Devall is the Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Research Delivery Manager (Primary Care) for the NIHR Clinical Research Network West Midlands.
Dr Ivonne Solis – Trapala is a senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics, based at the School of Medicine, Keele University. She is Deputy Director of the Keele Hub of the West Midlands Research Design Service.
Perspectives: Writing a Successful application
Kath Checkland is a Professor of Health Policy and Primary Care at the University of Manchester. She qualified as a GP in 1991, and still works 1 day a week in a rural practice in Derbyshire. Kath's research is based in the Health Policy, Politics and Organisations (HiPPO) group within the Centre for Primary Care in the Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care.
Lindsey Brown has been a public contributor in both research and healthcare education for the last 6 years and have been a member of PRIMER (the PPI group allied with the Centre for Primary Care at The University of Manchester throughout this time). PRIMER meets regularly to provide a patient perspective to researchers within the centre, and also provide longer term patient perspective on the steering/advisory groups that are created to support these research projects. This has also included giving a patient/public perspective on the internal funding panel.
Dr Ralph Kwame Akyea is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow with the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Nottingham. Ralph’s primary research focused on population health using large routinely collected electronic health records and cohort data to understand disease heterogeneity and identify characteristics of unique patient groups at greater risk of adverse clinical outcomes.
NINR Research for Patient Benefit Presentation
Dr Ianina Conte joined the National Institute for Health and Care Research 6 years ago and she is a Senior Programme Manager at the Research for Patient Benefit programme where she manages the entire cycle of research funding from commissioning of projects, to contracting, monitoring and impact evaluation. Ianina also manages the NIHR School for Primary Care Research and has been involved in the development of the NIHR Open Research publishing platform.
Designing effective infographics, data viz and visual abstracts
Gavin Hubbard comes from a background in lab-based science (immunology), re-trained as a science writer working freelance for a number of companies, charities and publications, before joining the University of Oxford as a communications manager, based department of Primary Care and supporting the departments NIHR supported work and researchers.
Introduction to the NIHR’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy
Emma Hadfield-Hudson (she/her) joined the NIHR in June as one of four new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Managers working across the NIHR. The EDI Team will soon be launching the NIHR's first EDI Strategy which aims to sustainably embed inclusive culture at NIHR.
Embedding EDI into Research
Dr Krysia Canvin is currently Research Fellow for Involvement and Engagement on the 3-schools’ mental health in underserved communities research programme. She is a qualitative methodologist with over 25 years’ experience of conducting research with a range of vulnerable and marginalised groups about health, mental health and inequalities.
James Sheppard is an Associate Professor in Applied Health Research at the University of Oxford, and EDI Lead for the SPCR. His research focuses on better understanding the benefits and harms of treatments, with a particular focus on cardiovascular disease prevention. His work includes prognostic modelling, causal inference epidemiology, systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials. Beyond his research, James’ involvement in EDI initiatives includes as deputy lead for his department’s Athena Swan programme.
Virtual patient and public involvement; what, how and tips & tricks
Esther van Vliet works for the NIHR School for Primary Care Research as Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Manager. She has worked in PPIE for 7 years at various organisations.
Miriam Santer is a GP and Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Southampton. Her research focuses on supporting self-management for long-term health conditions. She has a particular interest in public involvement in research and is Academic PPIE lead for NIHR SPCR.
Senior Researchers - Career Talks
Katrina Turner is a Professor of Primary Care Research and joint head of the Centre for Academic Primary Care in Bristol. Katrina is a primary care scientist who has expertise in qualitative research methods.
John Campbell is Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at the University of Exeter; he also jointly leads the University of Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) and is local Director of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research. John is a clinical GP, continuing to provide direct clinical care in Exeter. John is a Fellow of RCGP and was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to General Practice.
Research Design Service (RDS) Interview Skills Workshop
Dr John Belcher is based at Keele University and a member of the West Midland Research Design Service. He was first appointed to the Mathematics Department in a 1988, as a joint initiative between Keele and the Local Health Authority. John has combined his academic career with clinical work at the North Wales Clinical School and Wythenshawe Hospital, where his remit was to promote good study design, support NHS personnel in developing research skills and deliver teaching modules/workshops in Medical Statistics.