Executive Group
The day-to-day operation of the CLRN is supported by an Executive Group, led by the CLRN Clinical Director, which has representation from primary and secondary and tertiary care. From 1 May 2013 the Executive is:
- Dr Jesus Perez - Clinical Director
- Professor Hill Gaston - Co-Director
- Dr Jonathan Graffy - Co-Director (Primary Care)
- Dr Chris Travill - Executive Member, Luton & Dunstable Hospital Foundation Trust
- Dr Marijcke Veltman - Senior Manager
2013 Executive Group meetings
The Executive Group usually meets monthly on Fridays from 9.30-11.00am at the CLRN's head office in S4, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. The dates of meetings for 2013 are:
| 11 January | 8 February | 22 March | 26 April | 24 May | 28 June |
| 26 July | 23 August | 10 September | 18 October | 15 November | 13 December |
Dates of West Anglia CLRN Board meetings in 2013 can be found here.
West Anglia CLRN: the different teams Executive Team
Core Team
Support Services Team
Research Nurse Team
Research Facilitator Team
Executive Team
Clinical Director
Clinical Director Dr Jesus Perez is consultant psychiatrist for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and Associate Lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge..
Dr Perez trained in psychiatry at Salamanca and New York Universities, before taking up a post as a clinical research physician in a multinational pharmaceutical company. He then became Senior Researcher in the McLean First-episodes International Project at McLean Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, a position that is ongoing. In 2009 Dr Perez became the Lead Consultant Psychiatrist in the award-winning CAMEO Early Intervention in Psychosis Service, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.
Clinical Co-Director
Professor Gaston read medicine at Lincoln College, Oxford and undertook general medical training in London and Bristol. Research training began in Bristol as a CRC Fellow, and postdoctoral training at Stanford with an MRC travelling fellowship. He returned to the UK to the Department of Rheumatology in Birmingham where he was Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow and honorary consultant, before moving to Cambridge as the foundation professor of rheumatology. His research interests are in immunological mechanisms in rheumatic disease, and interactions between infection and the immune system. Professor Gaston has an active group of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, working in cellular immunology, particularly T cell cloning (see www.med.cam.ac.uk). Professor Gaston is married to a local G.P. and has two grown-up children; interests outside work include science and faith issues (member of the Advisory Board of the Faraday Institute, see http://graphite.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday/), music (listening, not making), reading and travel.
Clinical Co-Director (Primary Care)
The Co-Director for the West Anglia CLRN is Dr Jonathan Graffy. Jonathan Graffy is Senior Clinical Research Associate in the Dept of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. He is also Clinical Lead (Medical) for the East of England Primary Care Research Network (PCRN-EoE) and honorary consultant in primary care at Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust. He is Networking Editor of the journal Primary Health Care Research and Development. Much of his research has focussed on the contribution that patients and the public can make to the prevention and management of health problems. His MD thesis (2002) was entitled “Evaluating Breastfeeding Support: a randomised controlled trial from breastfeeding counsellors”. In more recent work (The DIALOGUE Study) he has investigated patients’ experiences of health care for type 2 diabetes and whether feeding these experiences back to practice teams leads to improvements in services. An active clinician, he also works as a salaried general practitioner.
Core Team Members
Senior Manager
The CLRN team is led by Dr Marijcke Veltman, CLRN Senior Manager. Marijcke is a chartered psychologist, and past Manager of the East Anglia Hub of the Mental Health Research Network and holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Birmingham. She started her career as a Psychology Lecturer at the De Montfort University before moving into research at the Thomas Coram Research Unit and the Social Science Research Unit at the Institute of Education, University of London.
Her next move was to the Health Education Authority as Senior Research Manager before going back to academic research at the University of Cambridge, firstly at the General Practice and Primary Care Research Unit followed by the Section of Developmental Psychiatry.
Marijcke was also an external assessor and occasional Social and Medical Advisory Board member for research grant applications to the Community Fund (now known as the Big Lottery Fund). Her research interests lie in child psychopathology, developmental assessment, autism spectrum disorders, as well as the consequences of child maltreatment.
Lead RM&G Manager
The Lead RM&G Manager is Lena Pettersson. Lena came to West Anglia CLRN from Bart’s and the London NHS Trust where she managed the Clinical Research Centre during a period of renewal and expansion. Before that she gained extensive experience managing and coordinating both clinical trials and multi-centre medical device trials. Within her managerial roles she has travelled both nationally and internationally and presented her work at conferences and lectures. She also worked as a consultant translating patient information for devices trials run at EU level.
Before moving to England, Lena worked as a Sister in one of the major hospitals within the Stockholms Läns Landsting, Sweden. She was involved in successfully coordinating the set up of a new care initiative in care of the elderly, requiring multi-agency participation and co-operation, as well as a change in hospital admission policies.
Lena’s previous roles include Lead Nurse and Clinical Research Centre Manager, Research Fellow and Manager of MHRA Disability Equipment Assessment Centre (University College London), Consultant, and Senior Research Nurse and Ward Sister.
Lead Network Officer
Christian Sparke is Lead Network Officer for West Anglia CLRN. She joined the CLRN in September 2009, initially as Research Nurse and then as Research Facilitator.
After qualifying as a nurse, Chris trained in cardiac nursing at the National Heart hospital and spent twelve years as a sister and senior sister in intensive care at The Westminster and St Bartholomew’s hospital, specialising in cardiac and neurosurgery.
During this time she developed an interest in counselling and gained qualifications in general and bereavement counselling skills. Whilst on a career break to have a family, Chris completed an MSc in Health Sciences and on returning to work, became a research nurse in orthopaedics, cardiology, renal genetics and psychiatry.
Chris is based in Cambridge.
Research Management and Governance Officer
The RM&G Officer is Anna Chapman. Her role in the CLRN will focus on supporting researchers and RM&G staff throughout the stages of the RM&G process.
Anna joined West Anglia CLRN from the Research and Development Department of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, where she managed contractual arrangements for visiting researchers and helped coordinate the setup of research projects. She has also worked in Knowledge Services, where part of her role involved performing literature reviews for researchers and clinicians. Outside of work, Anna enjoys charity work, reading and gardening and has worked helping to rehabilitate injured wild animals.
Research Management and Governance Administrator
Fiona Coner is the RM&G Administrator for West Anglia CLRN, providing administrative support for the RM&G team. Previously Fiona undertook a degree in English Literature in Dundee and worked in the library sector at the University of Oxford, before returning to her home city of Edinburgh to train as a nurse.
Before joining the CLRN, Fiona gained experience of nursing at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in both infectious diseases and in a research environment.
Fiona has also spent time living in Canada and Italy, and in her spare time enjoys exercising, reading, travelling and dining with family and friends.
Information Manager
Patricia Meyer-Seidt is the Information Manager for West Anglia CLRN. Her professional career encompasses more than 15 years' project management, system analysis, training and course development in a variety of industry sectors and in higher education.
Prior to joining West Anglia CLRN she worked as a course author and freelance assistant lecturer for Business Applications and Process Modelling at a well-known distance learning university in Germany. As a systems analyst for Frederic Alexander University in Nuremberg, she took responsibility for the analysis of complex organisational processes and structures within the university, as well as for the planning, process modelling and requirements engineering for the organisational database (Identity Management).
Patricia is from Germany, where she gained her academic degree in computer science, information and communication management. Her main interest is in e-learning: the use of personal learning environments, pedagogical agents (artificial intelligence) and the social semantic learning desktop.
Senior Data Officer
Monika Golinska is Senior Data Officer for West Anglia CLRN. Monika worked as a scientist in different laboratories across the world where she was involved in scientific data management and analysis. Prior to joining West Anglia CLRN she completed her PhD at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute.
Industry Manager
The Industry Manager is Lynne Stanley. Lynne joined us from a locally based site management organisation, where as Project Manager, she was responsible for supporting commercial studies conducted within the NHS, with particular focus on study start up and local regulatory requirements.
Previously Lynne worked for a major pharmaceutical company in Belgium and the UK, working mainly in Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and IT Training, and coordinating quality review of clinical study reports and other marketing authorisation documentation.
Finance and Contracts Manager
The CLRN Finance and Contracts Manager is Alison Naxton. Alison has a wide range of experience gained within the Public Sector ranging from Grounds Maintenance, Social Services Transport, Procurement and Facilities Management. She has experience in setting up service level agreements, budget management, tendering, managing contracts, and developing policies, processes and procedure guidance.
Alison previously worked at Cambridgeshire County Council and gained significant financial experience including Oracle financials, managed complex projects and challenging multi-million-pound budgets. She is married with three children and enjoys reading, swimming and spending time with the family.
Communications Manager
Nicola West is the Communications Manager. Her role focuses on raising awareness of the CLRN and its work to healthcare professionals, patients and the wider public. As part of this Nicola will also work to raise awareness of and recruitment to clinical trials.
Nicola brings to the role more than 15 years’ related experience in both the private and public sectors, including events management, PR, advertising, newsletters and customer magazines. She has also edited websites and intranets and written scripts for corporate videos. Before joining the CLRN Nicola was internal editor for an international children’s charity.
Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) Officer
Justine Hill is the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Officer for West Anglia CLRN, having joined us from NHS Northamptonshire where she was a clinical research nurse in the R&D department.
Justine completed her nurse training at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital and worked as a staff nurse. She then trained as a Health Visitor at the University of Hertfordshire, and in total has more than 17 years of experience based in Primary Care.
As PPI Officer Justine is responsible for the development and delivery of an effective PPI strategy across West Anglia, which will help patients and the public to have a meaningful and rewarding involvement in the work of the clinical research networks and help researchers to facilitate PPI in their research projects.
CLRN Administrators Administrator
Beverley Reynolds provides administrative support for West Anglia CLRN and the R&D department at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Before joining the CLRN Beverley worked as PA to a deputy and assistant headteacher at a middle school in Suffolk.
She brings many years' administrative experience to the role, along with good communications skills and the ability to work alone or as part of a team. Outside work Beverley enjoys running, swimming, reading and socialising.
Administrator
Kelly Teversham is an Administrator for West Anglia CLRN. Kelly’s role is to provide comprehensive administrative support to the CLRN office/core team, to ensure a smooth running of the office.
Kelly previously worked at the Cambridge City Council for the Elections department and the Anglia Support Partnership Primary Care Services Registration department. Kelly brings to the role more than nine years of administration experience, including event organising and use of Microsoft packages, and excellent communications skills both as part as a team and on her own initiative.
Outside work Kelly enjoys socialising, swimming, going to the gym and travelling.
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Support Services Team
CLRN Pharmacist
Dr Lynne Whitehead is the clinical trials pharmacist for non-oncology within Addenbrooke’s Hospital and provides pharmaceutical support for clinical trials across West Anglia.
Lynne moved to clinical trials after almost 10 years as a Preparative Services Pharmacist at Addenbrooke's, working in aseptics, oncology, parenteral nutrition and palliative care. Prior to this she worked in consumer goods research, looking mainly at skin delivery systems, and as a formulation scientist for a pharmaceutical company. In the early part of her career Lynne worked extensively as a part-time locum community pharmacist.
Lynne obtained a PhD in pharmaceutical formulation from the University of Manchester in 1998 and is a qualified non-medical prescriber. She works four days a week.
Research Team Members
Senior Research Nurse Manager
The Senior Research Nurse Manager is Dr Fiona Maxton. Fiona is an experienced paediatric nurse and came to West Anglia CLRN from Napier University, Edinburgh where she was a lecturer in paediatric nursing, and was responsible for teaching research skills and evidence based practice. Prior to that she spent 15 years in Sydney, gaining extensive experience in her roles both as a clinical nurse specialist/consultant in paediatric intensive care and more recently as a researcher within the nursing academic unit at the Children’s Hospital, Westmead, Australia. She was involved in working with clinicians to develop clinical collaborative studies and was successful in gaining grants, including being awarded the Mead Johnston/NSW College of Nursing prize for research. She gained her PhD in 2005 from the University of Western Sydney and has presented widely at international conferences.
Fiona maintains an interest in paediatrics through her involvement in the RCN Child Health Nurse Researcher group. Her research interests lie mainly in paediatric intensive care, parental stress and coping, phenomenology as a research method, and the implementation of research into clinical practice.
Research Nurse Team Leader
Debbie Campbell joined the team from the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. She has over twenty years’ experience in respiratory disease in both clinical and research environments. Most recently she worked predominantly with patients with severe asthma, setting up and running innovative clinical services as well as being directly involved in commercial and non-commercial research trials.
Debbie, who gained a BSc in Health in 2003 and is a qualified non-medical prescriber, has also worked as an associate lecturer at Thames Valley University. She has been an active committee member of the UK Respiratory Research Collaborative, the British Thoracic Society Research Committee and the Association of Respiratory Nurse Specialists. Debbie will be based at Papworth Hospital.
Research Nurse Team Leader
Sophie Lewis has moved from the West Anglia Cancer Research Network (WACRN), where she previously held a role funded by Cancer Research UK, promoting the work of the charity by engaging with the local community and the media and raising awareness of clinical trials to healthcare professionals, patients and the general public. Prior to this, Sophie gained experience of managing an extensive clinical trial portfolio of commercial and non-commercial research, in her role as a clinical trial practitioner specifically working on breast cancer studies within Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Before moving to Cambridge, Sophie worked as a midwife in South Yorkshire.
Research Nurse
Abigail Ford trained at the Royal Liverpool Hospital in the mid-90s and her first post was as a general surgical nurse. Abigail then specialised in critical care for eight years. During this time she worked in cardiothoracics in Liverpool and East Yorkshire, and in neuro-critical care at the Royal Preston Infirmary, before moving to Cambridge and working in the general ICU at Addenbrooke's.
In 2007 Abigail began work as an outreach nurse where she helped with setting up a follow-up clinic for critical care patients post-hospital discharge.
Research Nurse
Ailsa Liddle attained a degree in Pharmacology from the University of Glasgow in 1998 and in 2006 completed a BSc Honours in Nursing at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. She then worked in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in general surgery for two years before moving to work in a haematology ward at the city's Western General Hospital.
In January 2010 Ailsa moved into research nursing in uro-oncology at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre. Ailsa moved to Cambridge at the end of 2010 and secured a post with the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s in the Early Phase Cancer Research team, focusing on phase I and II studies. She became a junior sister on the clinical investigation ward in December 2011 and joined the CLRN in November 2012.
Ailsa has spent a year in Australia and enjoys skiing, running and travelling.
Research Nurse
Beena David was born in India and completed her BSc in Nursing in India in 1994. As a qualified nurse Beena worked in various specialties including medical, surgical, paediatrics and burns in hospitals in India, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. She also worked in community nursing.
Beena moved to the UK 12 years ago, and worked in the acute medical ward and admissions unit at Bedford Hospital. She then became a specialist nurse in Transfusion/ Anticoagulant/Haematology at Bedford Hospital.
Beena became interested in research two years ago while helping R&D department in Bedford Hospital. She is currently studying for a Masters in Clinical Research at Cranfield University.
Research Nurse
Claire Jonas is a registered paediatric nurse, who gained her degree at the University of East Anglia in 2009. She then joined Addenbrooke’s Hospital as a newly qualified nurse to gain general paediatric experience on the children’s ward. Pursuing an interest in research, Claire then joined the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility before moving to West Anglia CLRN to work on paediatric studies.
Claire is currently studying part-time for an MSc in Clinical Research through the NIHR funded programme with the University of Hertfordshire.
Research Nurse
Debbie Read trained at Addenbrookes in the late 80s and began her career working on the transplant surgical ward. During the 1990s she specialised in neurosciences working on all of the neurosurgical and neuromedical wards at Addenbrooke's, before developing an interest in neurocritical care. Most recently, she has been working in the dedicated neuro post-anaesthetic care unit.
Debbie works as a research nurse for West Anglia CLRN for two days a week and continues to work one day a week in the post-anaesthetic care unit.
Research Nurse
From New Zealand, Research Nurse Elizabeth Blake-Palmer has spent most of her clinical career to date in metropolitan hospitals in her home country. Elizabeth has also nursed in primary health in Nepal and the Solomon Islands.
As well as an extensive clinical background in orthopaedic nursing, Elizabeth is an experienced educator, having taught undergraduate and postgraduate students over 22 years, including introducing them to basic research. Elizabeth has also completed a Master's degree in which she undertook her own qualitative research study.
Research Nurse
Helen Bowyer is an experienced research nurse, and joins the team from Urogynaecology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Prior to this role, Helen worked for a lead clinical research organisation (CRO) conducting mainly commercial Phase I clinical research studies. Within this company she gained experience as both a senior research nurse practitioner and a project leader. Helen also has specialist clinical nurse experience from working within a Haematology/Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in Cambridge and in Genito-Urinary Medicine in London.
Helen will be based at Hinchingbrooke Hospital for three days a week in her role as research nurse for West Anglia CLRN; for the other two days a week she will continue in her post as a research sister in Urogynaecology.
Research Nurse
Helen Brown is an experienced general nurse, and joins the team from the Intermediate Dependency Area at Addenbrooke’s hospital, where she was junior sister. Prior to this Helen nursed at the Royal Hallamshire hospital in Sheffield and then at the West Suffolk hospital, where she worked in emergency medicine.
Helen gained her degree in adult nursing studies from the University of Northampton upon qualifying as a nurse in 2004. She has an interest in continuing professional development, and has written a qualified nurse portfolio framework which has been adopted by Addenbrooke’s hospital.
Research Nurse
Jacqui Tahari has more than 30 years’ experience working for the NHS. After completing her general nurse training, Jacqui went on a conversion course and registered as a children’s nurse. Jacqui gained a vast amount of experience at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, working in many specialities including 17 years in the burns and plastic surgery unit.
Jacqui completed her degree in 2007, gaining a BSc Hon in Health and Social Care - Child Health. Her research career began at Alder Hey when she joined the Medicines for Children Research Network and worked on studies covering a range of specialities including diabetes, rheumatology, respiratory, neurology, neonatal and endocrinology. To extend her research knowledge, Jacqui completed a Masters module on planning and managing clinical trials.
Jacqui then relocated to Aberdeen as a clinical nurse specialist in paediatric pain management, where she led the development of a pain service at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital. In her role at the CLRN Jacqui will focus on continuing her research career as Paediatric Research Nurse.
Research Nurse
Jo Brown trained as an adult nurse and then after completing her BA in midwifery she decided to work part-time as a practice nurse while her son was young. She then joined the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair to work as a research nurse for Consultant Neurologist Dr Roger Barker where she coordinated various pharmaceutical trials.
Jo also managed a database of around 1500 patients (mainly from the East Anglia region) who were suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and who were part of the Cambridge University-based longitudinal study into the disease.
Jo has spent the last couple of years home-educating her son whilst teaching antenatal classes part-time for the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).
Research Nurse
Jo Bytham is a registered paediatric nurse and joined West Anglia CLRN to work on paediatric research. Having trained in Bristol, Jo continued her work on a general paediatric ward before moving into cardiac and respiratory nursing at Southampton General Hospital and The Royal Brompton.
Whilst at the Brompton Jo undertook further education within paediatric cardiothoracic nursing and caring for the adolescent. Within research, Jo has worked at King's College Hospital with Professor Greenough, collecting follow-up data for a study on the effect of RSV in neonates. Most recently Jo has worked as a research nurse for the ProtecT study, a national study investigating the long-term outcomes of treatments for localised prostate cancer. Jo is based at Addenbrooke's Hospital.
Research Nurse
Lisa Walford is based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, where she gained her nursing qualification in 2003. Lisa's professional career began as Staff Nurse working on a gynaecology surgical ward in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. She then moved into primary care in West Norfolk, extending her knowledge base, gaining a Practice Nurse qualification and a variety of clinical skills ranging from running a busy hypertension clinic to complex wound care and drug administration.
After returning from maternity leave this year, Lisa has sought fresh challenges and believes research to be a rewarding and inspiring way to recommence her career.
Research Nurse
Lucy Winstanley is based at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. She graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2000 as a Registered Nurse and began working on the Trauma Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford as a staff nurse. Since then Lucy has pursued a career in acute care working in Intensive Care at the Royal United Hospital in Bath and in Emergency Medicine and Recovery in Auckland, New Zealand and has a postgraduate certificate in Critical Care.
On returning to the UK in 2010 she began working in Critical Care at the West Suffolk Hospital before joining the CLRN in 2012 where she is looking forward to developing a career in research.
Research Nurse
Sandra Bovan joined West Anglia CLRN from the MRC Epidemiology Unit based at the Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, where she worked as a research nurse in the field team.
The role involved working at several hospital and GP sites in Cambridgeshire, collecting data from volunteers who were taking part in large epidemiological, observational studies designed to investigate the causes and prevention of diabetes and obesity. Prior to this, the majority of her nursing career has been in primary care as a practice nurse in Peterborough, covering all aspects of the role.
Research Nurse
Suzy Deeley has more than thirty years' nursing experience. Suzy joined West Anglia CLRN from the Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where she covered a number of roles including: Night Manager for the whole site, Elderly Care Ward Sister and Obesity Nurse Specialist. She also implemented the Liverpool Care Pathway throughout the trust.
Suzy trained and worked in London for over twenty years working in both acute care and community. She worked at University College Hospital, where she was a Ward Sister in Elderly Care and Honorary Lecturer, before becoming a Continence/Stoma/Bowel Nurse Specialist: Suzy was one of the first Community Stoma Nurses and Advanced Bowel Practitioners. She has also worked in Tower Hamlets, specifically with the Bengali and Somali community, and has been an Honorary Lecturer at City University.
Suzy gained her MPhil in Medical Law at Glasgow University; in her spare time her hobbies are flower arranging and floristry.
Research Nurse
Victoria Senior joins the team from Nottinghamshire County Primary Care Trust, where she worked as a member of the District Nursing team.
She has more than 15 years' oncology experience in both primary and secondary care settings, including working as a senior nurse within the Oncology department at Addenbrooke's. Whilst in Nottingham she developed research knowledge working on the national study investigating the efficacy of screening for ovarian cancer (UKCTOCS).
Vicky is based at Papworth hospital, working three days a week.
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Research Facilitator Team Members
Research Facilitator Manager
Mary Bailie is the Research Facilitator Manager. After completing her nursing training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, Mary took a further course in coronary care nursing at the London Chest & National Heart Hospital where her interest in research developed.
She has many years’ experience as a clinical research nursing sister, working in industry for a major pharmaceutical company and also within the NHS. Mary has also worked as a research assistant on projects as diverse as magnetic resonance scanning and haematology.
She joins West Anglia CLRN from the primary care setting where she worked as a clinical researcher and auditor, further increasing her understanding of chronic disease management and care pathways. Alongside her career in the medical world Mary has played an important active role as a company director responsible for client liaison, marketing and business management for her internationally-recognised photographer husband. Outside of work Mary enjoys family life, travel and painting. She occasionally exhibits and sells her work.
Research Facilitator
The Research Facilitator supporting Papworth Hospital, Hinchingbrooke and Bedford Hospitals is Anna Nittis. Anna is a Social Anthropologist, with an MSc in Applied Social Research, and joined West Anglia CLRN from a regional carers' charity where she worked as Mental Health Lead.
Previously in her work career Anna was for several years an NHS Research and Development Manager working for an acute trust. Anna will share her time across the trusts and will be supporting the Speciality Groups Ophthalmology, Surgery, Genetics and Infectious Diseases & Microbiology.
Research Facilitator
Anna Sidders is a Research Facilitator based at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Anna gained a BSc in Medical Microbiology from the University of Surrey and worked for a microbiology laboratory in London where she became interested in clinical research whilst working on a global antibiotic resistance surveillance study.
Anna spent four years as a Clinical Research Associate and Training Coordinator in the pharmaceutical industry working on oncology, diabetes, rheumatology and cardiovascular trials, before joining the Kent and Medway CLRN as Industry Manager.
Anna became an NIHR GCP Facilitator in 2010 and looks forward to delivering GCP courses as part of her role in West Anglia.
Research Facilitator
Dr Davina Calbraith trained as an adult nurse in the early 1990s. Her background is acute care nursing, and Davina has worked at the John Farman Intensive Care Unit at Addenbrooke's and other acute and critical care areas.
Davina also has experience in teaching and research; she has taught research methods to nurses in both clinical and University settings for the past 14 years, and is a Higher Education Authority and Nursing Midwifery Council registered Nurse Teacher.
After working in both research-nurse and research-assistant roles for various clinical projects, Davina was then Principal Investigator for several clinical and educational research projects. Davina completed her PhD two years ago which investigated both research methods for clinical education training for doctors and nurses, and the effective clinical learning systems within acute/critical care settings.
Following her induction period Davina will be based in the emergency department and intensive care unit at Addenbrooke's.
Research Facilitator
Dr Katy Coxon is a Research Facilitator based at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Katy completed her Ph.D at the University of Cambridge before embarking on postdoctoral research in the field of Ophthalmology at University College London. In this role, Katy assisted in the pre-clinical work associated with setting up a phase I clinical trial of a novel imaging technique for the early diagnosis of Glaucoma.
Katy then moved to the National Cancer Research Network where she worked for the National Cancer Research Institute Clinical Studies Groups (CSGs). In her role as a Research Project Officer she was tasked with supporting the CSGs in the development of clinical trials. Working closely with the clinicians and scientists comprising these national groups, Katy’s work included producing and maintaining maps of the national portfolio, analysis of recruitment to clinical trials in the teenage and young adult setting and organising events and workshops for the education of the research community.
Research Facilitator
Lynette Fernandez is a Research Facilitator within the West Anglia CLRN based at Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, with specific responsibility for the Luton and Dunstable Hospital Trust and Bedford Hospital NHS Trust.
Previously Lynette Fernandez worked as a trainer on the DH initiative, The Expert Patients Programme. This role included training, assessing and supervising lay volunteer tutors to deliver self management training to people living with long term conditions. Lynette has wide ranging experience of working in the NHS as a RGN/RSCN, in phase I clinical studies (commercial) and in pharmacovigilance.
Research Facilitator
Dr Maria King is a Research Facilitator based at Addenbrooke's Hospital. Maria completed her PhD at Newcastle University, and went on to complete postdoctoral research in the field of nutrition conducting human intervention studies on the mineral selenium. She then moved to the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, where she co-ordinated human research studies investigating the metabolism of the B vitamin folate and supplemental Folic Acid in collaboration with clinical staff at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
More recently, Maria held a temporary contract at the University of East Anglia working on a large European project involved in assessing recommended daily intakes of minerals such as iron and selenium across Europe which involved helping conduct systematic literature searches and contributing to reviews.
Research Facilitator
Dr Michael Walker is a Research Facilitator within the West Anglia CLRN based at West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust, with specific responsibility for the West Suffolk Hospital Trust and QEH King’s Lynn Hospital NHS Trust.
After completing his PhD in the epidemiology and pathophysiology of parasitic infection at the University of London, Mike worked for 25 years in the Pharmaceutical industry, focussing on bioanalytical method validation, new drug development and clinical trial management. As a member of several new drug development teams, and General Manager of Bourn Hall Clinic, he gained extensive experience of Phase I clinical research as well as broad involvement with phase II and III studies, mainly with biotech compounds. These projects involved close liaison with a number of hospital departments, universities and specialist research centres.
Latterly, Mike was Managing Director of a small diagnostics company for three years before returning to the clinical research arena.
Research Facilitator
The Research Facilitator supporting Papworth Hospital, Peterborough and Stamford Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital is Dr Sarah Hopkins. Sarah joined us from Hertfordshire PCT, where she worked as a Clinical Audit Officer supporting the Provider Services. Sarah recently completed a PhD investigating mini tablets as a novel paediatric dosage form at University of London, School of Pharmacy and The Centre of Paediatric Pharmacy Research. Prior to her PhD, Sarah worked in drug development for a large international pharmaceutical company.
Research Facilitator
Victoria Cambridge is a Research Facilitator based at Addenbrooke's Hospital, supporting paediatrics.
Victoria studied initially at University College London for a BSc in physiology and pharmacology and after qualifying embarked upon a career as a science teacher. Whilst teaching Victoria studied part-time for an MSc in cognitive and clinical neuroscience, the award of which enabled her to subsequently undertake a PhD in clinical neuroscience at the University of Cambridge.
As a Neuroscientist Victoria’s research comprised clinical studies and trials concerning eating behaviour and obesity and their links with memory and addiction.
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