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Post Nominals PhD
Biography I am a Research Fellow in the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre and am currently involved in a number of NIHR funded research projects relating to chronic breathlessness including Breathe Well and FanFIRST.

I was the principal investigator for an NIHR funded feasibility trial of a breathlessness crisis management intervention for paramedics when called out to patients with chronic breathlessness (BREATHE), which was based on my PhD research on the experience of chronic breathlessness and presentation to the emergency department. I was also co-investigator on an interview study called Understanding people’s experiences of exacerbations which was funded by AstraZeneca.

In 2019 I worked with local people and artists Anna Bean and Rob Mackay to develop a multimedia exhibition to show what it is like living with breathlessness, entitled Bringing Breathlessness into View. This project received funding from Hull City of Culture 2017, the Wellcome Trust and the University of Hull. This exhibition has been taken to a variety of community and health centres and also the Freedom Festival 2023 to raise awareness of this difficult symptom and to let people know what can be done to live well with it. For more information please see our website: https://www.hyms.ac.uk/bringing-breathlessness-into-view

I have a degree in Experimental Psychology and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, both from the University of Oxford. Prior to training as a researcher, I gained 15 years of secondary school teaching experience. I was awarded a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Hull on chronic breathlessness and presentation to the emergency department in 2017. I am very interested in public engagement and recently took part in the British Science Festival 2018.
Research Interests My PhD investigated the role of chronic refractory breathlessness in emergency department presentations. This research involved a mixed methods approach including a patient survey and case note review at the Hull Royal Infirmary, followed by in-depth interviews exploring how breathlessness had triggered a presentation at the emergency department. These research findings are set in the context of a systematic review of the existing qualitative literature on the experience of breathlessness.

This research led to the development of the BREATHE NIHR funded feasibility trial in collaboration with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and the Universities of York and Sheffield.

I was a co-investigator on the ExacQual study, which explored patients’ and their carers’ experiences, expectations and understanding of COPD exacerbations before and after the emergence of COVID-19.

Additionally, I am interested in cancer-associated thrombosis and have published a qualitative sub-study of the select-d trial on the patient and carer experience of oral and injected anticoagulants and also a systematic review of the experiences of cancer patients living with venous thromboembolism.
Scopus Author ID 56693985800
PhD Supervision Availability Yes