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Meet the team
Dr Nina Smyth
Reader in Psychology, University of Westminster
I have expertise in quantitative research methods and experience of qualitative research methods. My areas of research include cortisol circadian patterns, stress, wellbeing, mental health, and interventions aimed at promoting healthier living. I have worked on projects aimed at improving the health, wellbeing and care of university students, public-sector employees, and patient groups. I am lead of the University-wide Health Innovation and Wellbeing Research Community and the Psychophysiology and Stress Research Group at the University of Westminster. I am Principal Investigator for the HI-COVE project.
Damien Ridge
Professor of Health Studies, University of Westminster
I lead the epidemiological and public health research in maternal and child health towards optimising the wellbeing of families and preventing future ill health. During the pandemic, I focused on the recognition and the quantification of prolonged illness following COVID-19 and led the call to ‘Count Long Covid’ in summer 2020. I was awarded an MBE for services to Medicine and Public Health in the Queen’s New Year Honours 2021, and named among women leading change from across the world in the BBC 100 Women 2020 list.
Patrycia Gaszczyk, MSc
Research Fellow, University of Westminster
I have experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods. My areas of research include developental psychopathologies (with a focus on eating disorders and schizophrenia), suicide and self-harm, and neuroimaging techniques, i. e., EEG, MRI, fMRI. I have worked on projects aimed at broadening our understanding our neurology of mental disorders and suicide ideations.
Dr Nisreen Alwan
Associate Professor in Public Health, University of Southampton
Honorary Consultant in Public Health, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
I lead the epidemiological and public health research in maternal and child health towards optimising the wellbeing of families and preventing future ill health. During the pandemic, I focused on the recognition and the quantification of prolonged illness following COVID-19 and led the call to ‘Count Long Covid’ in summer 2020. I was awarded an MBE for services to Medicine and Public Health in the Queen’s New Year Honours 2021, and named among women leading change from across the world in the BBC 100 Women 2020 list.
Dr Becky Band
Senior Research Fellow, University of Southampton
I am a psychologist working in applied health research. My research interests are focused on how the people around us impact on how we adjust to, and manage, our health and wellbeing. This may include partners, family members, wider social networks and community connections. I also have a special interest in the causes and impact of loneliness and social isolation, and have been running a community based project to address this.
Prof Carolyn Chew-Graham
GP Principal in Central Manchester
Professor of General Practice Research, Keele University
My main areas of interest and expertise include the primary care management of people with mental health problems, multiple health conditions and unexplained symptoms; and the mental health and wellbeing of clinicians. I have qualitative research methods expertise, drawing on theories from social sciences and psychology, but always with a focus on clinical practice – trying to answer questions that are important to patients, their families, health care professionals and the NHS. I have conducted previous research into Long Covid. I chair the RCGP ‘Research Paper of the Year’ panel. I am Chair of the Society of Academic Primary Care. I am member of the NICE Clinical Guideline Development Group Depression (update) – work which directly impacts on commissioning decisions and patient care. I am Editor-in-Chief of the journal Health Expectations.
Dr Dipesh Gopal
GP, National Institute for Health and Social Research (NIHR)
In-Practice Fellow, Queen Mary University of London
My research interests are in long-term cancer care and health inequalities. I have experience clinically as a GP of treating people with Long Covid and I have academic interests in improving the health of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. I critiqued the Government Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in 2020, which was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and challenged the inclusion of race in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) blood pressure guidelines. This work was featured in New Scientist.
Dr Tom Kingstone
Lecturer in Mental Health and Wellbeing, Keele University & Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
I am a social scientist (psychology and sociology) by background with expertise in qualitative methods and patient and public involvement in health research. I have established a successful track record in obtaining grant income (in excess of £2million), conducting high quality research and delivering postgraduate supervision and teaching. My areas of interest include: depression and anxiety, mental and physical co-morbidities, health inequalities and the application of psychological and sociological theories. Over the last two years, I have conducted and published qualitative research on Long Covid.
Dr Alexa Wright
Reader, University of Westminster
Artist
I am a London based artist working across a range of media including photography, video and interactive installation. Since the late-1990s, I became known for ‘After Image’, an award-winning series of photographs of people with phantom limbs, much of my research-based practice has featured dialogues with people with physical disabilities and physical or mental health conditions. I have been involved in several long term inter-disciplinary collaborations, for example with Alf Linney, Professor of Medical Physics and computer scientists at UCL (1999-2010) and Hybrid Bodies, a unique international, interdisciplinary project based in Toronto, Canada that brought together medics, visual artists, a philosopher and social scientists to explore the emotional and psychological effects of heart transplant (2007-19). In 2015, funded by Arts Council England, I initiated ‘Piecing it Together’, a participatory project for people experiencing mental ill health at two NHS Mental Health Recovery Centres. I am currently working on Inside Stories, an Arts Council funded participatory project in two prisons in the North of England.