Author: Victoria Murphy

Celebrating women at IGHI for International Women’s Day

We’re featuring some of the amazing women at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, to celebrate their achievements during Women at Imperial Week 2024.

Imperial President Prof Hugh Brady with some of the women at IGHI
Imperial President Prof Hugh Brady with some of the women at IGHI

Meet some of our women at IGHI

From our teaching team…

Christa Hansen, Teaching Fellow, DHL Programmes, IGHI

Christa HansenI work as a Teaching Fellow on the Digital Health Leadership programmes, and across IGHI more broadly. I completed my PhD in Health Economics here at the Business School. Since graduating I have enjoyed coming over to the ‘health’ side, supporting GMPH and BSc students at the School of Public Health, and now NHS clinicians on the DHL programme. I love working in a multi-disciplinary setting, and am proud to be a member of the IGHI team. Personally, I have a 9-year-old daughter who plans to be a ‘discovery scientist’. Any future PhD ‘discovery’ ideas welcome.

 

Toni Page, Senior Teaching Fellow, DHL Programmes, IGHI

I have the privilege to be working on the Digital Health Leadership programmes supporting health and social care professionals in their journey of developing as digital leaders. I enjoy being part of a multidisciplinary team enthused about health and education. My PhD focused on developing a model offering undergraduate nursing students the opportunity to help service users and carers in learning about and using digital health. Embedding digital health into the curricular for health and social care professionals is a topic I am truly passionate about, and I am always keen to work collaboratively with others to achieve this.

 

Working with the Helix Centre…

Anna Lawrence-Jones, Public Involvement Lead, IGHI

I support staff to meaningfully involve patients, carers and public members in their work. I’m passionate about ensuring people from under-represented groups are heard in research. I lead the public involvement strategy across our Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC) and lead the Public Involvement and Equity Diversity and Inclusion Networks for SafetyNet (a collaboration between the 6 national PSRCs). Working at IGHI has led to me meet and learn from so many talented colleagues, patient representatives and external partners, from diverse backgrounds.

I’ve been at IGHI for 8 years. Each year, there is always new exciting work to get involved in. Currently, I’m working with the charity Mental Health Innovations to set up their first Service User Voice Group, who will help to improve Shout, the 24 hour crisis text line. I’m also working with our amazing data analysts to safely analyse anonymous data from Shout. Service users will shape this work, which we hope will lead to changes in policy and practice and improve mental health care.

 

Fiona O’Driscoll, Policy Fellow at the Helix Centre, IGHI

As part of the Helix Centre, I work on a range of projects that aim to improve health and healthcare for all with design. I mainly work on projects with our local NHS Trust – Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust – which is also where we’re based at St Mary’s Hospital.

I enjoy working with such an amazing and creative team at Helix Centre and across IGHI. Working on real-life issues and challenges within the NHS is really rewarding, as we hope to make a tangible impact to patient and staff experience.

I worked as a doctor and management consultant before joining the Helix Centre, so have taken a more unconventional route to IGHI! During COVID I also started a part-time Masters in Public Health. It’s been challenging to do in my spare time, but really interesting to apply what I’ve learnt to my projects. My team have also been really supportive in helping me to fit in time to study and take exams, as I’m planning to complete it this year!

 

Kate Grailey, Centre for Health Policy and Helix Centre Academic Research Lead

I provide academic support to both the Centre for Health Policy and the Helix Centre at IGHI, which gives me the amazing opportunity to collaborate with a huge range of inspiring people – including policy makers, designers, data analysts and researchers.

I also work as a research fellow in behavioural science as part of the Fleming Initiative and in a team called the Change Lab. I really enjoy exploring the determinants of behaviours and co-designing solutions to a range of problems including antimicrobial resistance and patient safety.

Before my time at IGHI I worked clinically as an Anaesthetist and completed a PhD in Psychological Safety.

Clare McCrudden, Policy Fellow, Helix Centre, Institute of Global Health Innovation

I am a Policy Fellow based at the Helix Centre at IGHI. I apply behavioural economics and user-centred design methods to improve healthcare. I work on projects for our NHS partners, as well as within our Health Tech products through stakeholder engagement and involving patients throughout.

It is brilliant to work with such talented and creative colleagues and learn from all the variety of disciplines that make up IGHI! I also enjoy that our work is both hyper local to Northwest London as well as on an international scale, enabling us to collaborate across the globe.

I am a Qualified Social Worker, experienced in both community and hospital settings which is helpful for understanding how our health systems work. I then moved abroad and completed a Master of Science in Global Health where I spent some time in Maastricht, Netherlands and working in public health in Bogotá, Colombia. Once I moved to London, I worked cross cuttingly with the NHS and charity sector in the public involvement space in cancer care, before joining IGHI in 2021!

Dr Leila Shepherd, Managing Director, Helix Centre

Here at IGHI, I have the privilege of leading the Helix Centre and championing the impact of design in healthcare.

What I enjoy most about my role are the inspiring people I get to work with at Helix and IGHI, and also frontline staff and public members. As a parent, I find IGHI to be a great place to flexibly balance professional and personal growth.

An engineer by background, my mission is to use tech for good. As my career has evolved though, I’ve learnt that tech that isn’t designed with users can do more harm than good, and also that tech is not always the answer! This is what makes the design methods we use at Helix to put people and their needs first so important.

From our Big Data and Analytical Unit (BDAU)…

Davina Tijani, Data Operations Manager, Big Data Analytical Unit, IGHI

I am Data Operations Manager for the Big Data Analytical Unit, my main responsibilities are onboarding users to the BDAU Server, dealing with user enquires and supporting data management which includes data transfers and completing data applications. Previously, I completed my undergraduate in Actuarial Sciences at University of East Anglia and my masters in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics at University College London. I love working with and supporting researchers in their clinical research across a variety of disciplines and subjects such as Patient Safety, Mental Health and Cancer to name a few.

 

Mahsa Mazidi, Big Data and Analytical Unit, IGHI

I lead the Big Data and Analytical Unit (BDAU) at IGHI, where our primary focus is on providing data services and analytical support to researchers engaged in the analysis of sensitive patient data. My role involves overseeing the BDAU Secure Environment (SE), a research space that is ISO 27001 certified and compliant with the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit. This ensures that researchers can do their work with the highest level of security and data protection. I have a master’s degree in computer science and have been part of the Imperial community for over 9 years. What I find most rewarding is the chance to collaborate with colleagues from across the College and support their incredible research projects.

 

From Climate Cares…

Daniella Watson, Research Associate, Climate Cares Centre, IGHI

I am a Research Associate and Health Psychologist working on climate change and mental research projects. I love working with an ambitious team of women at the Climate Cares Centre. With my behavioural science hat on, I am also a Co-convenor and Trainer of ‘Healthy Conversation Skills’ training. Previously I was working on maternal and child health projects in South Africa. Turning points in my career were working with two fabulous psychologists during my undergraduate years, who later became my PhD supervisors, mentors and friends, and also working on voluntary projects in the Caribbean and India.

 

And Communications…

Victoria Murphy, Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Manager

I communicate the amazing work that our colleagues do – engaging the public, influencing policy, and research with global impact. I love that I get to hear the details of what we’re doing at IGHI, and working with different colleagues across all our programmes of work and in various of parts of Imperial.

My career started in a very different way – working in mining in remote parts of Australia. It had its moments – good and bad! I’ve really grown my career since changing my focus to communications and research. I find my colleagues here so supportive and interesting, and I have a lot of respect for their talents. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been at Imperial for over 6 years!

 

Dr Laura-Maria Horga, Communications and Events Office

I am delivering the communications and engagements across IGHI, to promote the fantastic research and achievements of the Institute. I started in this role over two months ago, and I’m thrilled to contribute to a range of impactful projects aimed at addressing some of the biggest global health challenges of our time.

Everyone I met at IGHI is genuinely friendly, supportive, and passionate about their work. I’m particularly drawn to the creative environment and the opportunities for innovation that it offers. I’m passionate about amplifying researchers’ profiles, highlighting their achievements, and making science more accessible to the public.

Prior to this, I worked in communications at The Institute of Cancer Research for two years. My background is in biotechnology, and my PhD project at University College London focused on investigating the impact of marathon running on orthopaedics using imaging technologies.

 

Keeping OnTrack with stroke rehabilitation

The Helix Centre, part of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, is helping stroke patients to manage their recovery and increase their independence, with a wearable tool that provides support for the rehabilitation of their arm and hand.

Sana talks to the Helix Centre’s Clare McCrudden about the OnTrack technology
Sana talks to the Helix Centre’s Clare McCrudden about the OnTrack technology

OnTrack Rehab is a platform that combines tracking of arm movements through a smart watch with personalised virtual coaching and dedicated clinical support. The system allows stroke patients to convert every-day activities into productive rehabilitation, and stroke therapists to monitor and help guide the patients’ progress. The development of the platform has been led by a multidisciplinary team at Helix including Gianpaolo Fusari (Project Lead) and Clare McCrudden (Engagement Lead). Gianpaolo and Clare recently ran a data collection experiment involving 20 stroke survivors to improve the software behind OnTrack.

Sana, a stroke survivor, volunteered to participate in this experiment, and met with us to describe her experience. Senior Occupational Therapist Simone Welch works in the stroke team at Charing Cross Hospital (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust), and chatted with us about the medical support for stroke survivors.

 

Experiencing stroke

In 2021, Sana experienced weakness in her left side following a medical procedure, and ultimately was diagnosed with a stroke. “I felt lucky in my stroke – though not lucky to have a stroke! – because stroke outcomes could be more significant.”

Sana’s physical symptoms such as some limited arm movement required ongoing management and rehabilitation as well as sensory-based issues, like those of many stroke survivors. But it can be difficult for those who’ve had a stroke to know what to expect. Sana described that support came not only from her medical team, but beyond – reading information on the internet to understand her issue, and the information provided by medical charities.

Sana is fitted with sensor technology to track her movements in order to improve the software embedded in the OnTrack system.
Sana is fitted with sensor technology to track her movements in order to improve the software embedded in the OnTrack system.

During a visit to hospital, an NHS physio checked that Sana could do simple everyday tasks, like brush her hair. But at home, it was more challenging to engage with the ongoing exercises.

Sana felt that the support and rehab she needed wasn’t as easy to see as most of her impairments were more hidden and not so obvious. “I am grateful that it could have been worse but if I had something more significant and visible then people would be taking me more seriously.” So when the Stroke Association sent a physiotherapist to her house for assessment and gave her exercises it was the beginning of better support.

“When it’s painful you just don’t want to do [the exercises],” Sana said. With the difficulty of engaging with exercises, plus limited face-to-face support during the pandemic and the lack of services tailored for younger people who’ve had a stroke, tailored support is needed.

As a young person surviving a stroke, Sana wanted to see support that would allow for variabilities in age and outcome, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.  So the invitation to participate in OnTrack’s stroke rehabilitation was appealing. Sana felt that by participating in the research, her experience was able to help others, especially when those people did not fit the ‘usual’ stroke survivor’s demographic.

One aspect of OnTrack that Sana liked was the idea of “meaningful movements”. Physiotherapy rehabilitation requires hundreds of specific or purposeful movements each day, which felt unattainable. But with the smart-watch style device, Sana describes feeling more able to achieve goals – through every-day tasks such as brushing hair and doing dishes – which count as meaningful arm movements for rehab.

“This would have been useful to me;  I need to engage with something interactive,” Sana said. That’s where the app helps – measuring activity and giving motivation/feedback reinforced through different channels within the watch and app, and through the support provided by therapists.

Image of a phone screen held in hands, that says "Activity" anbd has figures of
OnTrack app interface which records movement

Sana’s message to survivors: “It does get better.”  Sana recommends to engage with the exercises, and found YouTube videos and stroke support charities helpful in her recovery.

Stroke therapy

Woman stands in front of hospital entrance
Simone Welch

Simone first saw the OnTrack technology in its very early stages – when in-person service provision was really limited during the pandemic. “[It] provided an intervention that allowed [stroke survivors] to continue with the upper limb recovery”, said Simone, as well as to participate in research.

Within 24 hours of being admitted to the HyperAcute stroke unit where Simone works, the patient will be referred for a therapy assessment – be it speech, physical or occupational therapy. But the rehab certainly doesn’t end there. Where some boroughs have intensive community stroke therapy available, including at the patient’s own home, the vast majority of rehab happens when the patient is on their own. “There is a concept called self-management which is really, really important,” where patients take on responsibility for their progress and their rehabilitation.

Simone wants her patients to be able to be discharged and return home. And the app would really support them to be able to track how they’re doing with their arm and hand recovery when not in hospital. When stroke patients like Sana have an arm weakness, OnTrack Rehab can send reminders, and help them to focus on what they need to achieve. “So it’s a bit like a step counter for the arm,” explains Simone.

As any movement of the arm – actual exercises or using your arm to wash your face or to feed yourself – is beneficial, tracking with OnTrack is a really positive solution.

Keeping on track

There’s plenty of hope about what OnTrack could help with. Simone said: “I think it would help guide conversations between therapist and patient on how they can do more outside of their sessions.” Plus, it gives data that therapists can go through with their patient to support them to reach their goals.

“There’s a lot you can do to support someone’s overall quality of life and their well-being”, says Simone. The app could prompt therapists to ask: “I can see you were really active at this time of the day, but not so much here – what was happening?” This is particularly important when therapists may only see their patient for an hour, as the app allows you to know what’s happening in the other 23 hours of the day.

A smart watch on a wrist with a message that says "Well done! You have reached your daily goal"
OnTrack smart watch

For OnTrack Rehab, Clare and Gianpaolo are working to evaluate the device and its impact with more people and this year a new clinical trial will begin.

Gianpaolo said: “The data and insights that we gathered with the collaboration of Sana and other stroke survivors during Phase 1 has helped us to improve the OnTrack experience as a whole.  One big change that we can’t wait to test during Phase 2 is the inclusion of smarter prompts delivered directly to the patient’s wrist, hopefully we will be able to see how these tailored messages motivate people to increase the use of their arm in more varied activities.”

“We are delighted to have members of the research study as part of a wider group of stroke survivors and carers guide us through the next phase of OnTrack Rehab, piloting it in the NHS. We expect to be able to enhance the both patient and carer’s experience, and also embed new co-designed features to keep users motivated and supported.” said Clare

Find out more about OnTrack and the user-centred designs created by the Helix Centre.