I am the Patient and Public Involvement lead for the chronosig project. I work within the Department of Psychiatry and the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre to promote patient and public involvement and engagement (PPI/E) in research. My interest in PPI/E developed out of a desire to improve and manage my mood disorder (Bipolar Disorder 1).

For almost 20 years I participated in clinical trials and studies ranging from a randomised control trial of different medication combinations to StemBANCC - a study to develop a resource of induced pluripotent stem cells for researchers to use in their search for drugs to treat and cure diseases, and everything in between.

Since 2015 I have been advising on how to raise the profile of mental health research, influence research design and how to best involve patients and members of the community in research. Through my role as co-Chair of PAR, I am involved in the development and delivery of the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Strategy (PPIE) for the OH BRC.

In addition to my work at the OH BRC, I sit on numerous committees and boards relating to mental health research and its dissemination. In early 2020 I joined the Ethics Board for IM2PACT, an international research project, formed by a new consortium of 27 partners from academia, industry, small and medium size enterprises which “aims to tackle the unmet challenge of discovery and characterisation of blood-brain barrier targets and transport mechanisms for brain delivery of therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases”.

Latterly my interests have led me to becoming involved with medical education and in this role I have been co-delivering lectures on Mood Disorder as well as sitting as a panel member on Brain and Behaviour Professionalism Presentations. I am also a member of the Admissions Committee for Oxford Institute for Clinical Psychology Training and Research and a member of the Project Assessment Panel.