Our team

Core team

Prof John Wright

Director

John Wright is a doctor and epidemiologist with a background in hospital medicine and public health in the UK and in Africa. He established and leads the Bradford Institute for Health Research and Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, working to speed up translation of medical research into practice and policy. He is the Director of Research for the City of Bradford. He has authored of over 300 papers and three textbooks and been awarded over £145 million in research award funding, £40 million as chief investigator.
Email: John.Wright@bthft.nhs.ukWebsite: www.docjohnwright.org

Sally Bridges

Programme Manager

Sally is the Programme Manager for the NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber, responsible for the day to day management of the collaboration across the region. Sally has worked in health and wellbeing research and management since 2010 and joined the team applied health research family at Bradford Institute for Health Research in 2016. Sally also has a particular interest in making the most of routinely collected data in applied health research.
Email: Sally.Bridges@bthft.nhs.uk

Chung Fu

Business Manager

Chung is the Business Manager for the NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber, responsible for contracts management, data captures for performance reports, and providing programme and finance management support for the four research themes and two cross-cutting themes across the region. He joined the health research family in 2009 after graduating with MSc in Business Management. He was also a core team member of the former NIHR CLAHRC Yorkshire and Humber.
Email: Chung.Fu@bthft.nhs.uk

Carolyn Clover

Team Administrator

Carolyn has worked for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for just over 20 years; 13 of these have been at the Bradford Institute for Health Research. As well as providing support to the Director of Research, Carolyn also provides support to the Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaboration (YHARC) and additional support to the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Group. Carolyn is also the Research Support Officer for the ActEarly City Collaboratory.
Email: Carolyn.Clover@bthft.nhs.uk

Dr Christine Smith

Co-Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Lead

Christine is a public involvement and research impact researcher, with experience of facilitation, evaluation and programme management.
Email: c.smith4@hud.ac.uk

Dr Sam Debbage

Capacity Building Lead

Sam Debbage has been a senior leader and influencer of education and research for many years, with a specific passion for raising aspirations and supporting research capacity building in health and care. Sam has dedicated her 30-year nursing career to building her knowledge and skills in education and research, forming strong relationships with NHS and Academic organisations to help enable individuals, teams and organisations to undertake and use applied research. Sam’s early scholarly activity focused on improving patient outcomes, with her PhD using a quantitative approach to demonstrate the impact of care pathways (University of Sheffield). Sam has worked in several senior nursing, research, and education positions, and participates in regional and national committees to help influence and shape education and research policy and strategy. Sam has been directly engaged with supporting the delivery of the Collaboration and Leadership in Applied Research and Care (CLAHRC) and most recently joined the team as the research capacity building lead for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration in Yorkshire and Humber. Sam is substantively employed as the Deputy Director of Education and Research at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals. Email: Sam.Debbage@nhs.net

Shahima Begum

Engagement and Communications Lead for Research

Shahima leads on, manages and delivers a wide range of engagement activities for research at the Bradford Institute for Health Research. As part of this role, Shahima leads the Yorkshire and Humber ARC's communication activities, including managing the website, social media and all external and internal communications. She also provides communications support to the YHARC's Implementation partner, the Improvement Academy.
Email: Shahima.Begum@bthft.nhs.uk

Nicola Drake

Communications & Training Coordinator

Nicola is the training and Communications coordinator for the Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaboration (YHARC). As part of her role she works with the team to look after the communications activities, including maintaining the website, social media and internal and external communications. Also providing training and communications support to the Academic Unit for Ageing and stroke research and the Improvement Academy.
Email: nicola.drake@bthft.nhs.uk

Healthy childhood

Prof Kate Pickett

Theme Co-Lead

Kate Pickett FRSA FFPH, leads the Public Health & Society research group, and is Deputy Director of the Centre for Future Health and Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity, all at the University of York. She is co-author, with Richard Wilkinson, of the bestselling The Spirit Level (2009) and The Inner Level (2018). Kate is co-PI for the current Born in Bradford sweep funded by the MRC and ESRC, associate director of Born in Bradford’s Better Start Innovation Hub, and lead for the Healthy Livelihoods theme for ActEarly. Within the Y&H ARC she co-leads the Early Years and Prevention theme.
Email: kate.pickett@york.ac.uk

Dr Rosie McEachan

Theme Co-Lead

Rosie McEachan is the Director of Born in Bradford and a proud (Scottish) Bradfordian. She is an experienced applied health researcher with particular interests in the development and evaluation of complex interventions, environmental determinants of health, green space, air quality, and co-production. Rosie holds an honorary chair position at the University of Bradford and co-leads the Early Life and Prevention theme of the Y&H ARC.
Twitter: @drrosiemc
Email: Rosie.McEachan@bthft.nhs.uk

Chris Cartwright

Theme Manager

Chris is a Research Programme Manager for the Early Life and Prevention theme of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber, Born in Bradford and a qualified Consultant in Public Health. Chris is interested in closing the gap between research and practice with specific research interests including social and environmental influences on health, participation of the public and professionals in research and global public health systems strengthening. Prior to becoming a public health professional Chris was an emergency planner for local authorities and the NHS.
Email: Chris.Cartwright@bthft.nhs.uk

Mental health

Prof Simon Gilbody

Theme Co-Lead

Simon Gilbody is Professor of Psychological Medicine and Health Services Research at the University of York. He is Director of the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group (MHARG) and an honorary consultant psychiatrist at Tees and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust.Taking a population approach to mental health, Simon conducts large epidemiological studies and clinical trials (and reviews of trials) to promote effective, efficient and equitable NHS mental health services. Simon researches in primary care, and at the interface between mental and physical health.
Email: simon.gilbody@york.ac.uk

Prof Scott Weich

Theme Co-Lead

Scott is Professor of Mental Health, Head of the Mental Health Research Unit (MHRU) and Deputy Director of Research at ScHARR (University of Sheffield), and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust where he is also a Trust Governor. He is Deputy Director of the Mental Health Theme for ARC YH.He trained at the Maudsley Hospital and was a Senior Lecturer at UCL and then Professor of Psychiatry at Warwick Medical School from 2003 to 2016. He was previously Clinical Director, West Midlands South CLRN, RfPB Panel Chair for the West Midlands, HTA Mental Health Prioritisation Panel Chair and R&I Director, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust. His research interests include psychiatric epidemiology, public mental health, mental health services research and mental wellbeing.Email: s.weich@sheffield.ac.uk

Ruth Wadman

Theme Manager

Ruth is a Research Fellow in the Mental Health and Addictions Research group (MHARG) at the University of York. She is a Chartered member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.Ruth’s research interests are in child and adolescent mental health, and she carries out both qualitative and (observational) quantitative research. Current research projects include examining the experiences of people with mental and physical multimorbidity. Ruth is also interested in how to meaningfully engage people with mental health conditions in the research process.
Email: ruth.wadman@york.ac.uk

Older people

Dr Andrew Clegg

Theme Lead

Andy is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research, University of Leeds, and is an Honorary Consultant Geriatrician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, with research interests in frailty, delirium and dementia. Andy is chief investigator for an NIHR Programme Grant to evaluate personalised care planning for older people with frailty; the NIHR HTA-funded Home-based Extended Rehabilitation for Older People (HERO) trial, and for the Community Ageing Research 75+ (CARE 75+) multi-site cohort study. Andy led the development, validation and implementation of NICE recommended electronic Frailty Index (eFI) using data from around 1million UK patients (ResearchOne and THIN primary care research databases), which resulted in major impact on NHS policy.
Email: Andrew.Clegg@bthft.nhs.uk

Dr Lesley Brown

Theme Manager

Lesley is a senior research fellow in the Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research at Bradford Institute for Health Research. As part of her PhD, Lesley undertook research in Hong Kong investigating ethno-cultural differences in response to Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for pain relief. Lesley previously managed a study at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton investigating physiotherapy pathways for people with chronic back pain. Lesley currently manages the national Community Ageing Research Study 75+ (CARE75+) cohort study, which uses an innovative trials within cohort methodology to optimise the recruitment of older people into trials.
Email: Lesley.brown@bthft.nhs.uk

Urgent care

Prof Suzanne Mason

Theme Lead

Suzanne is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Sheffield and in addition holds positions as Honorary Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Clinical Director for Research and Development at Barnsley Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.Suzanne's research interests include evaluating complex interventions in emergency and urgent care. She is particularly interested in the evaluation of new roles and alternative pathways of patient care. Suzanne has extensive experience in multi-centre mixed methods studies that can directly inform the delivery of high-quality emergency care to patients.
Email: s.mason@sheffield.ac.uk

Colin O'Keeffe

Theme Manager

Colin has a background in Health Services Research and works as a Research Fellow in the Centre for Urgent and Emergency Care (CURE), ScHARR, University of Sheffield. Colin has worked on a number of projects evaluating policy and workforce innovations in this settingHis research interests include, use of large data to understand the nature of demand and flow in the urgent and emergency care (UEC) system and evaluating solutions to improve demand and flow in UEC, including the impact of new roles for pre-hospital healthcare staff.
Email: c.okeeffe@sheffield.ac.uk

Health economics

Prof Tracey Young

Theme Co-Lead

Tracey Young is Professor in Health Economics and Outcome Measurement in the School for Health Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield, and has over 25 years’ experience in applied health service research. Tracey’s research includes methods for measuring uncertainty in economic evaluations, the development of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs), and economic evaluations alongside trials and observational studies. She has been involved in economic evaluations in emergency medicine, looking at the long-term impact of severe trauma and cost-effectiveness of regional trauma networks.
Email: t.a.young@sheffield.ac.uk

Prof Laura Bojke

Theme Co-Lead

Laura Bojke has over 20 years’ experience in economic evaluation. She is Professor in Health Economics in the Centre of Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York. Laura has worked on a wide range of applied and methodological projects, within pharmacoeconomics and public health. She has gained extensive cost-effectiveness modelling experience through her work as part of the evidence review group for NICE and worked on a number of projects involving the use of expert elicited data within decision analytic models.
Email: laura.bojke@york.ac.uk

Amanda Lane

Theme Manager

Amanda Lane is project administrator in the School for Health Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield. She is an experienced project manager, and has worked on a number of high profile projects, including the government’s National Empty Homes Capacity Building programme, working with local authorities across England to bring empty homes back into use; restoring the Humberhead Peatlands and returning them to favorable condition; and working with a number of English Universities to develop a foundation degree in Sustainable Communities.
Email: a.j.lane@sheffield.ac.uk

Improvement science

Prof Rebecca Lawton

Theme Lead

Rebecca is Professor in Psychology of Healthcare at the University of Leeds and Director of the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Group at Bradford Institute for Health Research. She is also Director of the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre. Rebecca’s research interest is the application of psychological theory to improving health and healthcare services. More specifically, Rebecca carries out research on human factors and patient safety, patient involvement in patient safety, the implementation of safety innovations and wellbeing of the healthcare workforce. She also conducts health psychology research, investigating determinants of health risk behaviours and the evaluation of interventions to improve lifestyle behaviours.
Email: r.j.lawton@leeds.ac.uk

Andria Hanbury

Theme Manager

Andria is an improvement scientist with experience of using improvement science methods within the NHS, broader public sector and the commercial sector. Andria’s PhD is in improvement science, during which time she was employed within a mental health trust to conduct the research. Andria subsequently worked as a research fellow on an implementation science theme of the first round of the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC), based at York University.
Following this, Andria spent a year advising Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust on improvement science projects. Before joining the team at Bradford Institute for Health Research, Andria worked as a senior consultant for York Health Economics Consortium, specialising in patient reported outcome measures for public sector and pharmaceutical sector clients.
Email: Andria.Hanbury@bthft.nhs.uk

Emily Parker

Research Fellow

Emily is from a Psychology background, receiving her BSc (Hons) from University of Leeds in July 2019. She is currently in the final year of her PhD between University of Leeds and the Bradford Institute for Health Research, which is funded by NIHR Yorkshire & Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre. Emily’s PhD focuses on understanding how staff and patients tolerate uncertainty in the Emergency Department and developing an intervention to enhance uncertainty tolerance amongst emergency medicine doctors. Emily did not have any time out of education and came straight from undergraduate Psychology to PhD study however throughout university has worked part time in several NHS settings within domestic, administrative and data management teams. In August 2022, Emily was appointed as Research Fellow within the Yorkshire & Humber Applied Research Collaboration. Her initial projects in this role focus on maximising the benefits to healthcare staff of research involvement and engagement as well as understanding the experience of patients, families and healthcare staff when making decisions to transfer care home residents to Emergency Departments.
Research interestsEmily’s research interests include supporting healthcare staff with complex decision-making, patient & public involvement and engagement and improvement science.
Email: Emily.Parker@bthft.nhs.uk

Implementation

Dr Michael McCooe

Implementation Co-Lead

Dr. Michael McCooe is the Clinical Director of the Yorkshire and Humber Improvement Academy and has an excellent track record of translating research into policy and practice with national impact.
Through his work with the Improvement Academy, Michael has led the development of Structured Judgement Review as an evidence-based approach to learning from deaths in hospital. In partnership with the Royal College of Physicians, he has supported national implementation of the NHS 'learning from deaths' policy and he is a national trainer for the National Mortality Care Record Review Programme.
Michael is a member of the Independent Advisory Group for the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre and a Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia at Bradford Teaching Hospitals.
Email: Michael.McCooe@bthft.nhs.uk

Dr Vishal Sharma PhD

Implementation Co-Lead

Vishal Sharma is the Associate Director of the Yorkshire and Humber Improvement Academy which is the Implementation arm of NIHR ARC YH.
Vishal supports the overall direction of the Improvement Academy and leading the team in working with organisations to deliver improvements. Having a computer science and psychology background, Vishal has worked in the private and public sector.
Previously having worked within BIHR, he went on to complete his PhD at the University of Leeds in “The feasibility of screening for obesity related co morbidities in children attending community weight management services”.
Email: Vishal.Sharma@yhia.nhs.uk

Kristian Hudson

Implementation Specialist

Kristian is an implementation specialist with experience of applying implementation science theories, models and frameworks in both school and healthcare settings. Kristian also has clinical experience which he obtained while working as an assistant psychologist in the NHS along with experience of working in the private sector. For his Doctoral thesis, Kristian spent three years working with a steering group responsible for implementing mindfulness across 320 schools in Cumbria. Kristian shared implementation knowledge with the project steering group, trained them to act as an implementation team, interviewed schools in regards to the barriers and facilitators to implementation, and created an implementation framework for school leaders to use when implementing mindfulness.
Within his current role at the Yorkshire and Humber Improvement Academy Kristian provides implementation support to the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber (YHARC). There are a number of skills he offers including implementation training, coaching and action learning sets to help researchers and clinical staff optimise their intervention design for implementation success. Kristian also specialises in helping research teams and clinical staff prepare for, roll out and evaluate implementation. He can diagnose contexts for implementation barriers and facilitators and then work with teams on the ground to maximise implementation and sustainability over time. His experience has taught him an implementation science approach combined with an improvement science and relationship building is best. Kristian has also been writing implementation research into research grants across the ARCS. He has been particularly interested in working with NHS healthcare professionals, researchers and policy makers to generate action orientated knowledge to complement the current academic implementation knowledge present in the literature. Kristian ran a monthly podcast last year where he talks to implementation specialists and researchers around the world.
Email: kristian.hudson@yhia.nhs.uk