Primary Care & Health Sciences

I joined Keele in 2007 as a research assistant within the Research Institute of Public Policy and Management, where my research focused on educational practice. I then moved to a research associate post within the Research Institute for Primary Care and Health Sciences in 2008 where I have been working on projects looking at factors associated with low back pain. My undergraduate degree was in psychology (BSc Hons 1st, Staffordshire University, 2001) and my PhD was in Psychiatry, which considered the impact of behavioural and psychological symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias (University of Birmingham, 2005).

My primary research focus is on the epidemiology of chronic pain. I am involved in projects that consider the long term outcomes for those with low back pain, the influence of families and partners on back pain, the psychosocial influences on chronic pain and the relationships between chronic pain and other common morbidities. Additional projects include considering long term prognostic factors for back pain, the role of sleep in the development of depression, and the role of early childhood trauma on pain in adulthood.

Quantitative Research Methods SSC (School of Medicine)

Psychosocial Aspects of Pain (School of Health and Rehabilitation)

Study co-ordinator - BaRNS and BeBack follow up studies

Chair - Psychology Discussion Group (RIPCHS)

Project supervision - MMedSci, PhD

Memberships - Society for Back Pain Research