NIHR Research for Patient Benefit is a national funding programme that funds research on a regional level through eight Regional Advisory Committees. Each region has a local committee chair and members, and patient or public members.
Regional chair
Dr Keith Couper is Chair of the West Midlands Regional Advisory Committee.
Committee members
| Name | Position | Organisation | Expertise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Opeyemi Babatunde | Research Associate: Systematic Reviews | Keele University | Systematic reviews and meta-analysis, clinical studies and randomised controlled trials |
| Mrs Mashkura Begum | Public Member | - | - |
| Dr Srikanth Bellary | Reader | Aston University | Research interests include epidemiology of type 2 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and ageing, diabetic kidney disease and new therapies for type 2 diabetes |
| Professor Matthew Brookes | Professor of Gastroenterology | Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | Gastroenterologist with an expertise in colorectal cancer, cell biology, endoscopy, inflammatory bowel disease and anaemia |
| Dr Blagojevic-Bucknall | Senior Lecturer in Statistics | Keele University | Statistical modelling, Electronic health records, Prediction modelling, Survival analysis, Propensity scores, Treatment-Outcome research, Primary care health research |
| Dr Claire Burton | NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care | Keele University | GP with experience in primary care health research, electronic health record research, systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, musculoskeletal pain and community health |
| Professor David Churchill | Professor of Obstetrics and Consultant Obstetrician | The Royal Wolverhampton Hospital NHS Trust / University of Wolverhampton | Epidemiology studies, systematic reviews, cohort, case-controlled, and randomised trials. |
| Dr Sarah Damery | Research Fellow | University of Birmingham | The organisation and delivery of services to optimise the management of long term conditions and multimorbidity within health and social care settings |
| Mrs Caroline Dean | Public Member | - | - |
| Professor Thomas Dietrich | Professor of oral surgery | University of Birmingham | Clinical Epidemiology/Clinical Trials in Oral Health research, particular wrt Periodontology and Oral Surgery and the link between oral diseases and systemic health outcomes |
| Mr Adrian Gardner | Consultant Spine Surgeon | The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Consultant Spine Surgeon with orthopaedic background at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, specialising in both adult and paediatric spinal deformity |
| Dr Francis Gilchrist | Senior Lecturer and Consultant | Keele University | Cystic fibrosis, paediatric asthma and paediatric flexible bronchoscopy |
| Ms Sadia Haqnawaz | Public Member | - | - |
| Dr Susan Hunter | Senior Lecturer | Keele University | Evaluating complex therapeutic interventions for neurological patients, particularly on interventions for the hemiplegic upper limb, life after stroke, and psychosocial effects of upper limb dysfunction |
| Dr Rebecca Knibb | Associate Professor in Health Psychology | Aston University | Mixed methods researcher with expertise in cross-sectional, longitudinal and intervention research designs, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, psychometric scale development and validation |
| Dr Damilola Olajide | Senior Health Economist | University of Nottingham | Micro-econometrics modelling and analysis of large datasets to reduce health inequalities, improving health behaviours and quality of disease management in primary care; model-based economic evaluation |
| Dr Jason Schaub | Lecturer in Social Work and Social Care | University of Birmingham | Clinical trials,Secondary analysis,Qualitative research,Behavioural |
| Dr Alice Sitch | Lecturer in Biostatistics | University of Birmingham | Statistician, research focus is test evaluation, specifically the use of tests to monitor progressive and recurrent disease and studies of biological variability |
| Dr Dean Thompson | Research Fellow | University of Birmingham | NIHR Research Design Service Advisor, and is interested in mental health and innovative mixed methods research |
| Ms Helen Weatherly | Reader | University of York | Health economist for economic evaluations of social care interventions, including the design, conduct and analysis of these applied economic evaluations, and related methodological research |
| Dr Simon White | Reader in Pharmacy Practice | Keele University | Qualitative and consensus research methodologies, health services research, polypharmacy and medicines optimisation |
| Dr Pensee Wu | Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician and Maternal Fetal Medicine Subspecialist | Keele University and University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust |
Obstetrics, women’s health, evidence synthesis, electronic health record research |