Staff

Niro_EMAS80x80Prof Niroshan Siriwardena Professor of Primary and Prehospital Health Care, Director of CaHRU and co-director of Lincoln Clinical Trials Unit. His research focuses on improving healthcare quality and outcomes in general practice, primary care, ambulance and hospital services through implementation science. He supervises research students using mixed methods related to quality improvement and implementation science.
GrahamLaw3Prof Graham Law Professor of Medical Statistics in the School of Health and Social Care, Deputy Director at CaHRU and Director of the Lincoln Clinical Trials Unit. His research focuses on epidemiological statistics and functional data analysis in clinical trials and large databases including the UK Biobank. He has worked in a wide range of fields including sleep medicine, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular epidemiology, gastrointestinal disease, pregnancy and childbirth.
zahid80x80Dr Zahid Asghar Associate Professor in Statistics in CaHRU and the School of Health and Social Care. His research focuses on mathematical and statistical modelling of acute, chronic and infectious disease epidemiology.
Dr Stephanie Armstrong Acting Associate Professor in CaHRU and the School of Health and Social Care with expertise in qualitative methods and systematic reviews, working on the NIHR funded HABIT trial and previously on the Wellcome Trust funded project, Network Exploring the Ethics of Ambulance Trials (NEAT).
Dr Greg Whitley  Senior Lecturer in Paramedic Science in CaHRU where he leads the Prehospital Emergency Quality and Outcomes theme and deputy director of research at East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust. He is a Health Education England (HEE)/National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Integrated Clinical and Practitioner Academic (ICA) Advanced Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellow (ACAF).
Dr Shihua Zhu Senior Research Fellow in Econometrics and Health Economics in CaHRU and the Lincoln Clinical Trials Unit working on health economic analysis of clinical trials, systematic reviews and studies involving statistical and econometric analysis of panel data and large datasets.
coral80x80Dr Coral Sirdifield Senior Research Associate in CaHRU and the School of Health and Social Care with a wide-ranging interest in mapping health needs to inform evidence-based practice and quality improvement in healthcare. She is leading studies funded by the NIHR and UKRI on commisioning for offenders on probation and the effect of COVID-19 on people on probation and services.
Mehrshad2Dr Mehrshad Parvin Hosseini Lecturer in International Business Economics is a health economist and econometrician working in CaHRU and the Lincoln Clinical Trials Unit working on health economic analysis and studies involving statistical and econometric analysis of panel data and large datasets.
JuliePattinson3Dr Julie Pattinson Postdoctoral research associate in qualitative methods in CaHRU with expertise in quantitative and qualitative methodologies specifically grounded theory and interpretative phenomenological analysis, currently working on the NIHR HTA-funded HABIT trial of nurse delivered sleep restriction therapy for insomnia and research exploring reasons for variations in performance in the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
JosephDr Joseph Akanuwe Postdoctoral research associate in Primary Care and Public Health Research in CaHRU with expertise in qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods, currently investigating point-of-care ultrasound and recently researching cancer detection tools and experiences of people with Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
Dr Gupteswar Patel Postdoctoral research associate in qualitative research in CaHRU with expertise in qualitative methods. He is currently working on a nationwide NIHR funded research study that aims to understand the contribution of community first responders to the rural health and care workforce.
vphung2Dr Viet-Hai Phung Research assistant in CaHRU and the School of Health & Social Care. His research focuses on prehospital quality improvement with a specific emphasis on ambulance service outcomes. He is studying for a PhD on delivering ambulance service care that meets the needs of EU Accession migrants in Lincolnshire.
Despina Laparidou Research assistant in CaHRU leading on systematic reviews and working on NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands funded studies including the ‘Ambulance hypos may strike twice’ and Researching Emergency Ambulances in Care Homes studies. Her main interests are in quality of life and outcomes in long term conditions. She is studying for a PhD on carers of people with dementia.
Dr Elise Rowan Clinical Database Manager in CaHRU and Lincoln Clinical Trials Unit with expertise in managing relational databases for longitudinal studies, research data management, research ethics, clinical/surgical trial protocol development and research project management.
Priya Sharma Clinical Trials Coordinator in CaHRU and Lincoln Clinical Trials Unit with expertise in clinical trials, research data management, research ethics, and research project management will be involved in all aspects of clinical trials and related activities supporting research within the primary, prehospital and acute care quality themes by planning, coordinating and completing designated projects.
Dr Tanja Kleinhappel Clinical Database Manager in CaHRU and Lincoln Clinical Trials Unit with expertise in managing relational databases for longitudinal studies, research data management and statistical analysis.
Miss Georgie Nicholls Research assistant and PhD student working on the PANDA study.
Sue Bowler Research administrator for CaHRU supports the activities of the research centre. She is currently administering research centre studies and the Healthier Ageing Patient and Public Involvement (HAPPI) group.

PhD students:

Betul Yalcin: Investigating the ambulance response to ethnic minority communities during the COVID-19 pandemic in the East Midland, UK.Georgia Speechley: Factors contributing to wellbeing of Community First Responders (DClinPsych)

 
Dr Darren Fernandes: Evaluating the burden of symptoms patients develop after treatment for colorectal cancer.Despina Laparidou: Informal carers of people with dementia: Exploring the cognitive processes that account for the relationship between stressors and the carers’ anxiety and depression levels. 
Andi Seago: Maintaining exercise following heart failure.Ntunge Emadione: Insomnia in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – MSc awarded 2023.  
Greg Whitley (CLAHRC-HEEM fellow): Paediatric pain management in the ambulance service – awarded 2021.Viet-Hai Phung: Eastern European migrants in Lincolnshire: what are their experiences of ambulance care and what are the barriers and facilitators of accessing such care? A stakeholder informed study – awarded 2022. 
Fiona Togher (RIF fellow): Development of an ambulance patient reported experience measure – awarded 2021.Laura Simmons (RIF fellow): A mullti-method study investigating sickness absence in the ambulance service and its associations with work-related stress and coping styles – awarded 2020. 
Nadya Essam: To convey, or not convey …?
The effect and usefulness of the National Early Warning Score to support paramedics’ decisions to convey patients to hospital or treat closer to home – awarded 2019.
Alison Cooper: Exploring opportunities for improving patient safety when GPs work in or alongside emergency departments: realist synthesis and evaluation – awarded 2020 (Cardiff University). 
Michael Toze (RIF fellow): Experiences of primary care for older LGBT patients – awarded 2018.Joseph Akanuwe: Cancer risk assessment tools in primary care – awarded 2018. 
Jolien Vos (RIF fellow): Navigating the care system – awarded 2017.Hannah Henderson: Intended actions, unintended outcomes: towards a processual understanding of exercise referral schemes – awarded 2017 

International visiting fellows:

Dr Nadeeka ChandraratneRegistrar in Community Medicine, Family Health Bureau, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka2017-2018
Dr K.G.R.V (Ravindra) PathirathnaSenior Registrar in Medical Administration, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka2017-2019
 Dr Pradeep RatnasekareSenior Registrar in Medical Administration, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka2018-2019
 Dr Mahendra SeneviratneSenior Registrar in Medical Administration, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka2018-2019
Dr Sarathchandra KumarawansaSenior Registrar in Medical Administration, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka2019
Dr Iresha JayawickramaSenior Registrar in Community Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka2019
Dr Dedunu Dias WeligamageSenior Registrar in Medical Administration, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka2020
Dr Nimali WijegoonewardeneActing Consultant Community Physician, Sri Lanka2020-2021
Dr Indika WanninayakeSenior Registrar in Medical Administration (North Western Province), Sri Lanka2021-2022
Dr Dinesh KoggalageDirector of the Health Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Health2021-2022
Dr Thusitha SudarshanaDirector of Medical Supplies Division (MSD) Ministry of Health2023-
2024
Dr Dammika AlahapperumaDirector of private medical services development in Sri Lanka2023-
2024