Contact Us
For any queries or to find out how to be involved with HPAG, please get in touch:
Who We Are
The Healthcare Professional Academic Group (HPAG) represents a community of research excellence in healthcare science Imperial College London (Imperial) and serves as an academic hub in the Faculty of Medicine for clinical academics in the healthcare professions1 from across the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC).2 The HPAG was launched in 2018 with an initial event. Today we have 135 registered members.
The HPAG provides a multidisciplinary network for a wide range of healthcare professionals1 who work with clinical and health-related research undertaken at Imperial College AHSC. The HPAG supports this research by bringing together a critical mass of clinical academics in the healthcare professions at Imperial College and its affiliated hospitals2. The HPAG aims to inspire more healthcare professionals to undertake research and become clinical academic leaders.
Non-medical healthcare professionals1 bring a person-centred perspective to multidisciplinary clinical and health services research. As the largest group of professional staff working in healthcare, we contribute unique insights into the realities of the clinical environment, and can therefore enhance both the implementation of research into practice and practice into research. Our clinical expertise includes symptom management, rehabilitation and recovery, patient-reported outcomes and experiences, and patient safety. In addition, we contribute knowledge and experience of research approaches that are essential to contemporary health care, including mixed-methods, qualitative, realist, intervention development and evaluation, patient-reported outcome assessment, and implementation science.
HPAG’s mission
- To inspire, support and increase the number of clinically active healthcare professionals to pursue an academic pathway
- To grow the number of clinical academic leaders from across the Imperial College AHSC;
- To increase the amount of cross professional research from different disciplines to strengthen the research impact and effectiveness;
- To increase the quality and volume of research undertaken by healthcare professionals.
HPAG’s vision
To become an Internationally renowned centre of research excellence and academic leadership in the field of healthcare sciences.
HPAG objectives
To develop the HPAG network and increase the volume of high-quality research led by healthcare professionals at Imperial and its affiliated hospitals through:
- Research Seminars;
- Multidisciplinary working within HPAG and with the broader health research community at Imperial;
- Networking, peer-to-peer support, and mentoring;
- Identifying support needs for research finances, grants and fellowships;
- Career advice and support. For AHSC staff in clinical academic training, HPAG works closely with the Imperial Clinical Academic Training Office (CATO).
If you are a healthcare professional1 who is leading research or aspiring to be a clinical academic and are interested in the work of the group, please sign up to become a member of HPAG.
1 In this context, ‘healthcare professionals’ relates to the non-medical clinical workforce e.g. nurses, allied health professionals, healthcare scientists, midwives, psychologists and pharmacy staff, clinical research practitioners
2 Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Cancer Research
Latest News
Congratulations to HPAGs Justin Roe who has been promoted to Professor of Practice in Speech and Swallowing Rehabilitation.
Congratulations to HPAGs Professor Mary Wells and Professor Caroline Alexander, who have been awarded the FoM 25th Anniversary Staff Award Winners for Outstanding Contribution from Honorary Staff and to Professor Mary Morrell who has been awarded the FoM 25th Anniversary Staff Award Winner for Outstanding Leadership in Education.
Activities and Events
- Upcoming HPAG Seminars
- Previous HPAG Seminars
- HPAG members' achievements
- About HPAG members
- CATO Events
- HPAG membership
Next event to be announced.
Title: Patient Public Involvement & Engagement- how, why and when
Date: Tuesday 30th January at 12.00-14.00
Chair: Dr Margaret Coffey
Speakers:
- Maria Piggin - Introduction to the NIHR Imperial Patient Experience Research Centre (PERC) and Public Involvement in Research (Maria Piggin presentation HPAG)
- Jenny Crow - How patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) is informing and shaping my research focused on a personalised approach to follow-up care after minor stroke
(Jenny Crow presentation HPAG)
Title: Collecting good data to inform future care
Date: Monday 20th February 2023 13.30-14.45
Chair: Dr Justin Roe
Speakers:
- Lauren Leigh-Doyle, SLT working in oncology in the Royal Marsden Hospital Foundation Trust
- Pernilla Lagergren, nurse and professor of surgical care science working at Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Q&A
Title: Medical physics research, development and innovation to deliver best practice care for our patients
Date: Wednesday 29th June 2022 14.00-15.30
Chair: Dr Ruth McLauchlan
Speakers:
- Meagan de la Bastide & Oli Steel, Department of Radiation Physics & Radiobiology
- Priten Khagram, Radiological Sciences Unit (Nuclear Medicine)
- Dr Mary Finnegan, Radiological Sciences Unit (MRI)
- Dr Simona Avramova-Cholakova, Radiological Sciences Unit (DR)
- Q&A
Title: Utilising routinely collected data for research
Date: Friday 22nd April 12.30-14.30
Chair: Professor Mary Wells
Speakers and schedule:
- Mr Ben Glampson, Research Informatics Programme Manager | NIHR HIC Programme Lead ICHT | ICHT Data Officer, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
- Mr Erik Mayer, Clinical Reader in Urology |Transformation Chief Clinical Information Officer (Analytics & Informatics) | Consultant Surgeon | Imperial College London | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust | Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
- Mr Scott O’Brien, Research Fellow and former Head of Children’s Nursing | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Title: Lessons learnt & looking ahead in Healthcare Science and innovation
Date: Tuesday 21st December 2021
Chair: Dr Emma Walker
Speakers:
Ian Wright and Michael Fudge - Advanced Cardiac Physiologists
Gill Twigg - Principle Clinical Scientist in Sleep Science
Arthi Anand - Consultant Clinical Scientist in Histocompatibility
Emily Frost - Healthcare Science Education Lead
Ed Wilkes - Consultant Clinical Scientist in Clinical Biochemistry
Q&A
Title: Co-Design of care pathways; examples from the shop floor
Date: Wednesday 6th October 2021 12.30-13.30
Chair: Dr Caroline Alexander
Speakers and schedule:
Dr Justin Roe, Speech and Language Therapist
National Centre for Airway Reconstruction | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Division of Surgery | Department of Surgery and Cancer | Imperial College London
PhD student Grainne Brady, Speech and Language Therapist working at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London. NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow.
Title: Medication adherence and resilience - and doing research in the Covid-19 pandemic
Date: Wednesday 21 April 2021
Chair: Professor Bryony Dean Franklin
Speakers and schedule
"Medication adherence and resilience: What can we learn from the Covid-19 pandemic?"
Dr Sara Garfield, research pharmacist at The Centre for Medication Safety and Service Quality, Pharmacy Department, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, & UCL School of Pharmacy, London.
“A facilitated discussion and sharing of experiences and suggestions around conducting research during a global pandemic”
Led by Professor Bryony Dean Franklin, Executive Lead Pharmacist Research & Director, Centre for Medication Safety and Service Quality | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Alison McGregor, Professor of Musculoskeletal Biodynamics, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery & Cancer. Imperial College London.
Title: Use of research to positively impact patient care - Seminar and networking
Date: Tuesday 13th October 2020
Speakers and schedule:
"Not just dyspnoea - swallowing as a concern for adults with laryngotracheal stenosis who undergo reconstructive surgery?"
Gemma Clunie, NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellow, Department of Surgery & Cancer
"Understanding the biomechanical impact of recurrent low back pain in patients with lumbar disc degeneration using state of the art technology"
Dr Janet Deane - Post doctoral research associate, Department of Surgery & Cancer
"Peer support for Healthcare Professionals outside of Medicine"
Dr Janet Deane - Post doctoral research associate, Department of Surgery & Cancer
Chair: Dr Margaret Coffey
Title: Using wearables in healthcare research
Date: Thursday 9th January 2020
Location: Charing Cross Campus
Speakers and schedule:
Chair: Professor Mary Wells
"Breaking the mould of dietary assessment"
Professor Gary Frost Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction and Dr Benny Lo, Department of Surgery & Cancer
"Developing a screening tool for shoulder dysfunction in breast cancer patients’"
Marie-Clare Johnson, Physiotherapy Practitioner Upper Limb, Therapies Department, Charing Cross Hospital
Title: HPAG Seminar 3
Date: Wednesday 4th September 2019
Location: Hammersmith Hospital, Wolfson Centre, Seminar Room 4
Speakers and schedule:
"Exploiting routinely collected data to improve nurse-sensitive outcomes: delayed discharges and adverse events" Enrique Castro Sanchez, Lead Academic Research Nurse
"A day in the life of a Female genital mutilation (FGM) specialist service" Juliet Albert, Specialist FGM Midwife
Title: HPAG Seminar 2
Date: Tuesday 11th June 2019
Location:
Speakers and schedule:
"Keeping amputees on their feet" Professor Alison McGregor
"An exploration of the relationships between staff perceptions of safety in adult intensive care (ICU) and patient and staff characteristics" Clare-Leon Villapalos
Title: Writing for Publication Workshop – facilitated by Felicia Cox FRCN MSc RN
Date: Friday 10th May 2019
Location:
Speakers and schedule:
Workshops offering staff who are already writing for publication an opportunity to explore the development of a framework for a publication – involving identifying a topic, audience, platform, and undertaking a basic lit search.
Title: HPAG Seminar 1
Date: Thursday 6th December 2018
Location: St Mary’s Hospital, Clinical Lecture Theatre (2nd Floor Cambridge Wing)
Speakers and schedule:
"From a clinical observation to a randomised clinical trial and change of clinical practice – an example" Professor Pernilla Lagergren
"A feasibility study on intervention for swallowing dysfunction after laryngectomy" Dr. Margaret Coffey
- Dr Justin Roe receives an MBE for services to Speech and Language Therapy, as part of the Queens New Year Honours
- Dr Caroline Alexander has been awarded a Professor of Practice
- Grainne Brady and Lauren Leigh-Doyle awarded NIHR fellowships
- Publication - impacts of clinical academic activity by healthcare professionals – with HPAG members as authors
- The chair of HPAG Professor Pernilla Lagergren - Nurse
- Professor Mary Wells - Nurse
- Dr Lina Johansson - Dietitian
- Dr Donna Kennedy – Hand therapist
- Dr Margaret Coffey - Speech & Language Therapist
- Prof Caroline Alexander - Physiotherapist
- Gemma Stanford - Physiotherapist
- Dr Enrique Castro-Sanchez - Nurse
- Dr Claire Nolan - Physiotherapist
- Professor Bryony Franklin – pharmacist
- Predoctoral fellow Layla Bolton Saghdaoui – nurse
The Clinical Academic Training Office (CATO) at Imperial is the Imperial College AHSC centralised pan-professional academic training hub for advice and information on academic careers, recruitment, training and funding.
Click here to access forthcoming CATO events relevant to health professional clinical academic trainees.
Professions in HPAG:
HPAG member affiliations:
HPAG Steering group members
Professor Caroline Alexander
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Professor Caroline Alexander
Professor of Practice (Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy)
Dr Margaret Coffey
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Dr Margaret Coffey
Speech and Language Therapist
Professor Bryony Franklin
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Professor Bryony Franklin
Pharmacist, Visiting Professor
Professor Gary Frost
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Professor Gary Frost
Dietician, Chair in Nutrition and Dietetics
Professor Pernilla Lagergren
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Professor Pernilla Lagergren
Nurse, Chair in Surgical Care Sciences
Professor Alison McGregor
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Professor Alison McGregor
Physiotherapist, Professor of Musculoskeletal Biodynamics
Professor Mary Morrell
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Professor Mary Morrell
Nurse, Professor of Sleep and Respiratory Physiology
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Dr Ruth McLauchlan
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Dr Ruth McLauchlan
Radiotherapy Physicist and Visiting Professor
Dr Emma Walker
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Dr Emma Walker
Healthcare Scientist
