Clinical Director
The Clinical Director for the West Anglia CLRN is Professor Hill Gaston. 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.
Co-Director (Primary Care)
The Co-Director for the West Anglia CLRN is 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 in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire.
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Co-Director (Mental Health)
The Co-Director for mental for West Anglia CLRN is Belinda Lennox. Dr Lennox trained in medicine at Nottingham University, before training as a psychiatrist in Oxford, Nottingham and Cambridge. She is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry, where her research interests are in understanding the biological basis of mental illness (http://www-bmu.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/). She is also consultant psychiatrist for Cameo – the award winning service for first episode psychosis in Cambridgeshire (www.cameo.nhs.uk), and head of Research and Development for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. She is Deputy Director for CLAHRC for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, an NIHR funded centre for applied health research. She is married to a consultant Neurologist, and has 4 young children.
Core Team Members
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Senior Manager
The core 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.
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Lead RM&G Manager
The Lead RM&G Manager, is Lena Petterson. 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.
Research Management and Governance Officer
The Research Management and Governance Officer is Wendy Tou. Before joining West Anglia CLRN, Wendy worked as a research associate for the Research Design Service. In her role she was involved in writing research proposals and collaborated with clinicians and academic staff for funding from the Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme.
Wendy graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a degree in psychology and went on to complete a masters degree in education. Since then, she has worked on numerous research studies in education and public health. More recently, she was research assistant for the East of England Diabetes Research Network, where she facilitated in the coordination of both industry and academic studies. Wendy’s interests are in quantitative research methods and epidemiology.
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Information Manager
Neil Towler has worked for a number of years as a freelance Information Systems Project Manager, specialising in implementation of validated systems for Pharmaceutical companies, ensuring systems are delivered to meet requirements of the users. Neil has many years experience in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) environments and management of quality driven information in the pharmaceutical sector.
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.
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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 she 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.
PPI Coordinator
Sheila Parker is the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Coordinator for the CLRN. Sheila’s role is to promote and facilitate the involvement of members of the public in research, from research ideas through to the dissemination of results. Before joining West Anglia CLRN, Sheila worked in the electronics industry as a project manager, working on both hardware and software projects.
Sheila gained her degree in mathematics from Cambridge University, and post graduate qualification in librarianship from Birmingham Polytechnic, gaining Chartered Librarian status in 1981. She worked as a librarian in a small research group and in public libraries, then after a career break to bring up a young family, changed career to move to the electronics industry. Sheila works part time, normally Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
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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, 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.
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Office Manager and Personal Assistant
Sarah Gurry is the CLRN Office Manager and Personal Assisistant to the CLRN Senior Manager. The role Sarah carries out is very varied with a great deal of her time taken up dealing with all HR issues for the growing Department. She plays a large part in organising the recruitment of new staff members and overseeing the management of the CLRN office, and generally really enjoys her job!
Sarah has gained a wealth of experience in her career working within the private sector, not only in office based environments as a PA, but also in the Beauty Industry. She trained full time for 3 years as a Beauty and Holistic Therapist and gained experience of working within the industry for Champneys Health Spa and within private salons. During her career she was Salon Manager for a large hair and beauty salon in Bedford, before embarking on a change of career path.
Administrator
Kelly Teversham is the West Anglia CLRN Administrator. 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.
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
The Research Nurse Team Leader is Sophie Lewis. Sophie 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
Helen Hobbins 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
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
Rebecca Hering is a qualified Adult Nurse, and joins us from the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery ward at Addenbrooke's Hospital. She obtained her degree in nursing from Homerton School of Health Studies, Cambridge in 2007, after a change of career from the travel and tourism industry. Rebecca has undertaken some voluntary nursing in a small Masai community in Kenya and with the charitable organisation LEPRA in India. She will be based within Papworth Hospital.
Research Nurse
Rebecca Mottram is a Registered Children’s Nurse, and joins the team from Aberystwyth paediatric ward, where she worked as a Staff Nurse. Prior to nursing, she undertook an Arts degree and worked as an administrator and arts facilitator for a Leeds based charity working with people with learning disabilities and mental health problems. Becky will be based at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
Clinical Trials Practitioner
The Clinical Trials Practitioner is Julia Wilkinson. Julia has joined us from the University of Leicester where she worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Diabetes and Cardiovascular and was involved with national and European studies. Julia recently completed a Masters in Public Health at the University of Nottingham and has worked and volunteered in health care settings, schools and orphanages in England, Asia and Africa.
Research Facilitation 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
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
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
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.
Executive Group Members
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, secondary and tertiary care and mental health. The Executive is:
Last updated: 6 January 2010
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