Biography

As a Knowledge Broker for the Impact Accelerator Unit, Laura engages with the unit’s stakeholders to support the implementation of quality innovations into real world practice, bridging the evidence to practice gap. She brings together patients, the public, healthcare organisations and charities to establish strong champion networks and communities of practice for the dissemination and implementation of research. With a background in modern foreign languages (BA Dual Hons University of Bath, 2008), journalism and patient advocacy Laura coordinates public involvement in Knowledge Mobilisation (LINK group), co-produces patient facing evidence based resources and develops communication strategies for the unit for scaling up and scaling out high quality research evidence.

Implementation projects have included:

• STarT Back (Stratified Care for low back pain) - https://startback.hfac.keele.ac.uk/ including the back pain patient information leaflet which has received national commendation from the British Medical Association and NICE endorsement - https://startback.hfac.keele.ac.uk/patients/
• JIGSAW-E (osteoarthritis care across Europe) - https://jigsaw-e.com/ including presenting internationally at EULAR
• Moving Forward – Implementing evidence from the NIHR Moving Forward Themed Review into clinical practice (movingforward-project.com)
• I-SWAP
• Hand osteoarthritis training videos - Youtube

Laura is a committee member of The Haywood Foundation, a trustee of the North Staffordshire Orthopeadic Research Foundation, a finalist in the 2018 Nursing Times Awards and the Lead National Representative for the Scoliosis Association UK.