Laura Forsythe, PhD, MPH

Laura Forsythe, PhD, MPH, is the Director for the Evaluation and Analysis department at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She is responsible for evaluating PCORI’s engagement activities and overseeing externally funded projects. She previously served as associate director.

Forsythe is experienced in conducting research on facilitating adjustment to chronic illness. Her work has examined how psychological factors, the social context, and interventions affect pain, mood, and functioning among chronic pain populations. Most recently, Forsythe was a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute. Her work there focused on the development of a more effective approach to caring for cancer survivors through the study of survivor, provider, and healthcare system influences on health and well-being after cancer.

Mogens Hørder

Professor, dr.med. 5000 Odense C Denmark

Prof Thilo Kroll

Associate Dean for Research, Innovation and Impact B225, UCD Health Sciences Centre

Since 1992 I have been conducting research into the social dimensions of health and well-being with a particular emphasis on public health perspectives on disability and health topics. I have carried out social and health-related research in various health systems and care environments in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Scandinavia. My background in psychology has led to a variety of interdisciplinary research studies combining quantitative and qualitative research methods with a particular emphasis on inclusive research designs for otherwise marginalised groups. 

My research interests and passion are focused on systems-related topics in global public heath and inclusion. The scale of work ranges from the individual to health and population level service systems.

Dave Green

Sophie Staniszewska

Sophie Staniszewska leads the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and Patient Experiences Programme at the RCN Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick. Previously Sophie was Director of Research at the National Centre for Involvement and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Health and Social Studies. Sophie is a member of the National Quality Board Patient Experiences Sub-group. Sophie has carried out a wide range of studies. Sophie recently completed a scoping study for NICE which developed the Warwick Patient Experiences Framework that informed the NICE Patient Experiences Guidance. Sophie also led a systematic review of the impact of patient and public involvement on health and social care research, funded by the UKCRC. Sophie is currently working with EQUATOR to develop the first international guidance to enhance the quality of PPI reporting. Find out more about Sophie here

Professor Louise Locock

Professor in HSRU. Health Services Research Unit University of Aberdeen 3rd Floor, Health Sciences Building Foresterhill Aberdeen

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Louise joined the Health Services Research Unit in 2017, following 14 years in the Health Experiences Research Group, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, where she was Director of Applied Research. She is a qualitative social science researcher interested in personal experience of health and illness; patient-centred quality improvement and co-design; and patient and family involvement in research and care. A major recent focus of her work has been how we can better use different types of patient experience data to improve care.

Professor Nicky Britten

Professor of Applied Health Care Research

Professor Britten is a medical sociologist with particular interests in lay views of prescribed and non-prescribed treatments, patient-doctor communication about prescribing, the management of multiple medications in chronic illness, the synthesis of qualitative research, and user involvement in research. Within the Institute of Health Research at UEMS, she leads the Third Gap research group. She is also a member of the Executive of PenCLAHRC with particular responsibilities for patient and public involvement, person-centred care, and the internal evaluation. Before coming to Exeter, Professor Britten worked at the London School of Economics, Bristol University, the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals, and King’s College London.

Professor Patricia Wilson

PhD, MSc BEd (Hons), RN, NDN, Professor of Primary and Community Care

‌I was appointed CHSS Professor of Primary and Community Care in April 2014 to lead the new Kent Academic Primary Care Unit (KAPCU). The unit will play a major role in ensuring that Kent will benefit from primary and community care which is a national example for quality and patient-centred care. Good primary care forms the bedrock of the NHS and leads to better health outcomes. Before joining CHSS I was a Reader in Patient Experience in the Centre for Research in Primary and Community Care at the University of Hertfordshire.

Over the past six years my interest in involving people in their care at self-management level has extended to the field of patient and public involvement (PPI) within NHS structures and health research. I have a national and international PPI profile and was part of a group working to establish more regionally focused and synergistic PPI by bringing together component parts of the research infrastructure – CLAHRCS, AHSN, RDS and the research networks. I co-led the PPI research theme within the newly formed CLAHRC East of England. I was a member of the Eastern Academic Health Science Network node board and advised particularly on PPI. I was appointed to the NIHR INVOLVE advisory board and Self-Management UK (formerly the Expert Patients Programme) national advisory panel in 2012, and sit on the Editorial Board of a new journal, Research Involvement and Engagement.

Dr Kristina Staley

TwoCan's Director

Kristina is an experienced analyst, researcher and writer. She has a background in biomedical science, gaining her PhD from Cambridge University, and working as a post-doctoral fellow in the USA. She moved into health and science policy working at the King’s Fund and Sussex University’s Science Policy Research Unit, to involve the public in health policy debates. Through working as an adviser at the London Science Museum, she gained considerable experience in making research accessible to the public.

Over the last fifteen years she has worked in a wide range of voluntary and statutory sectors organisations, including NICE, the Health Research Authority, INVOLVE, Parkinson’s UK, and The Mental Health Research Network, to evaluate and develop policy and practice. She is the author of INVOLVE’s seminal report: ‘Exploring Impact: Public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research’.

Dr Andy Gibson

Associate Professor in Patient and Public Involvement, HAS - Health and Social Science

Andy is Associate Professor in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and has a social sciences background. His research interests focus on public involvement in health research. He is the academic lead for People in Health West of England (www.phwe.org.uk), a UWE-led collaborative initiative on PPI in research with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC West), the West of England Academic Health Science Network, the Clinical Research Network West of England, Bristol Biomedical Research Centre and Bristol Health Partners.

He also leads the UWE patient and public involvement team based in the Department of Health and Social Sciences.

He has developed a framework for conceptualising PPI (Gibson et al, 2012; 2017) that also has practical utility in the evaluation and planning of PPI. He was also part of the MRC funded team that developed the Public Involvement Impact Assessment Framework (PiiAF).

Audrey L'Esperance

Strategic advisor and research associate with the Centre of Excellence on Partnership with Patients and the Public (CEPPP)

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Audrey completed a PhD in political science at the University of Ottawa and a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto. She was also visiting scholar at BIOS – Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK in 2011. Her work has focused on public policies and practices related to assisted reproduction, experiential knowledge, expertise and policy-making processes. Over the years, she has developed an expertise in program evaluation, public policy analysis and project management in various academic and public-health settings.

 Tessa Richards

Dr Tessa Richards is a senior editor at The BMJ and leads the BMJs patient partnership initiative. She worked as a general physician, rheumatologist and a GP before joining the BMJ editorial staff. Here she has led the journals GP, Education and Analysis sections, and established the Overdiagnosis series ( part of the BMJs Too Much Medicine campaign) and one on High Integrity Health. She is a member of the Royal College of Physicians, a BMJ columnist and writes regularly on patient perspectives. Series she has written include ones on medical education, medicine in India, HMO’s, and medicine in Europe and BMJ theme issues commissioned include Health in the Middle East, Partnering with Patients, and Patient Centred Care. She lives with stage IV cancer and two long term conditions, and is a carer for close family members with rheumatoid arthritis, dementia, and blindness.

Núria Radó-Trilla

Nuria Radó-Trilla holds a PhD in Biomedicine from Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) and MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London. She is currently a researcher at the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS). Núria’s work in AQuAS focuses on assessment and she is responsible for the Engagement pillar of the Health Research and Innovation Assessment System of Catalonia (SARIS).

Duncan Barron

Duncan works to promote meaningful user involvement with research teams and encourages them to incorporate patient and public involvement (PPI) at the earliest stages of their research. He also has extensive experience of supporting and training members of the public with undertaking involvement roles and activities.  Duncan has an established background working with Research Design Services (RDS) and their forerunners beginning in 2000 and also the Primary Care Research Network (PCRN) in Hertfordshire working as a research methodologist. Duncan currently works part-time as PPI Regional Operational Lead for the NIHR Research Design Service (RDS) in the SE where he is based at the University of Brighton and part-time as joint PPI Lead at the Centre for Public Engagement (CPE), Joint Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education at Kingston University & St George’s University London.

E:  d.barron@sgul.kingston.ac.uk