(Day 1) March 2023: Public Engagement CPD Course

Meet the Team

Academic and Support Staff

Kristin Liabo

Kristin is a member of the PenARC Patient and Public Involvement Team. This team works to support and encourage members of the public to participate in various aspects of PenARC’s research, not just as data providers but in the prioritisation, planning and conduct of studies. After Kristin worked on a study on research implementation she became interested in comparing the research priorities of researchers with those of the wider public, prompting the question ‘who decides what we should know?’ Her subsequent PhD research focused on the barriers and facilitators to involving young people in systematic reviewing, with an emphasis on their involvement in setting the review question and influencing all decisions on the review protocol. Kristin has a background in childhood studies and has used methods and approaches within that field when working with public collaborators on research.

Naomi Morley

Naomi is a Research Associate in the PenARC Patient and Public involvement team, supporting the coordination of effective involvement and engagement of patients and public members in the ‘Children’s Health & Maternity’, as well as the ‘Ageing, Dementia and Frailty’, priority programme.

Her background is in dementia care and stroke rehabilitation, working for a number of years as a support worker for the NHS and the Stroke Association, before studying Medical Sciences and supporting a number of frailty studies.

Angela King

An active patient advocate for over 25 years, including 18 years practising Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in health research, Angela has personal experience of long-term illnesses and end of life caring. She has undertaken many roles in the voluntary sector, including Trustee and Chief Executive, and is currently involved in academic institutions and the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).

She carries out reviews, interviews and assessment activities for the NIHR, Cancer Research UK and UK Universities. As well as providing bespoke PPI advice to Institutions, she takes part in individual research studies, contributes to articles and papers and is a member of a few advisory boards/panels.

Kate Boddy

Kate's work as part of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC) Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) Team entails involving people in research so that the people who are meant to benefit from research have a say in shaping it.

She has a particular interest in a number of research areas including involving the public in systematic reviews and exploring the impact of patient and public involvement.

Beccy Summers

Beccy is a Research Associate in the PenARC Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement team. She comes from a clinical background, and as such is passionate about making sure that the care provided to people on an individual level is in keeping with their, and their family’s values. In addition, she see’s the patient, public and carer voices to be critical in shaping the care provided on a service-wide level within healthcare. Therefore, she works to support patients, public and carers to be involved in research and to enable their experiential knowledge to shape health research and thus future care.

Professor Katrina Wyatt

Katrina is Professor of Relational Health, Public Health lead for the South West Peninsula Applied Research Collaboration and part of the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health. Her research is concerned with understanding how we can create the conditions to transform service delivery and reduce health inequalities and in creative methods for capturing the impact of new ways of working and researching to support population health.

A central tenet of her research is supporting and enabling patients, service users and communities to be active partners in the design and delivery of research projects. She often collaborates with the Police, Housing Associations, Education and Social Care. She has been actively involved in creating a culture of publicly engaged research across the University and co-produced the public engagement strategy for the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Research.

Professor G J Melendez-Torres

GJ is professor of clinical and social epidemiology and leads the Peninsula Technology Assessment Group (PenTAG), one of 11 major research units in the UK providing expert advice on the clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. GJ also leads the School for Public Health Environments Research at Exeter (SPHERE), which is the University's membership in the NIHR School for Public Health Research. In addition, GJ is Deputy Director of the Exeter NIHR Policy Research Programme Evidence Reviews Facility. As an educator, GJ enjoys teaching research methods across all levels, from foundational statistics to advanced survival analysis. Most recently GJ has developed the College of Medicine and Health's Master of Public Health degree.

Lauren Asare

Lauren is a Research Assistant working as a part of the Patient and Public Involvement (PPIE) Team. Her role entails supporting patients and members of the public in their involvement and engagement during the ongoing process of conducting research into healthcare services.

Annie Hawton

I am a Senior Research Fellow in Health Economics at the University of Exeter. My main areas of research are Health Economics and investigating value for money of health and care interventions, with a particular focus on economic evaluations of treatments for people with Multiple Sclerosis. I have a special interest in involving patients and members of the public in Health Economics research.

Leon Farmer

Leon joined PenPEG in the autumn of 2019, but has been involved in research through the University of Exeter Medical School since the beginning of 2017. He is passionate about involvement, finding it to be immensely rewarding, satisfying and worthwhile.

Phil Ruthen

Phil is a member of PenPEG and is currently involved in several areas of health and social care policy work, including the NIHR national ‘One NIHR’ payments policy working group and the UK-wide cross-sector ‘Shared Commitment to public involvement in research’ initiative. Phil is also a poet, writer and editor, and has had collections of poetry, short stories and peer-review research published.

After departing mental health services where he'd been for over eighteen years, he gained a research master’s degree (MRes Law) as a returning p/t student in 2006.

Diana Frost

Diana is involved with PenPEG as their membership secretary. She has been involved in many research studies as a public reviewer, and has been a panellist for the Exeter University Medical School. Her motivation is to see that the patient and public voice is heard and to make changes to the NHS, to improve services for all.

Lynn Tatnell

Lynn has been involved with PPI since 2009 and has been part of hundreds of research projects. She enjoys making a difference to patient and public pathways care and their quality of life. She does NIHR lay reviews and sits on various panels. She interviews would-be doctors, nurses and radiographers for their sense of empathy, care and dedication to good practice. She believes that teamwork is especially important in her voluntary position, as others' views can totally change your point of view and understanding.

Cecilia Mañosa Nyblon

Education and Skills Partnership Development Manager

Cecilia Mañosa Nyblon is the Education and Skills Partnership Development Manager at the University of Exeter and leads the external facing continuing professional development portfolio for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. She has a background in anthropology, archaeology, and education. Cecilia’s professional life has grown and developed at the intersection of science and humanities in Uruguay, USA, Panama and UK. She led the creation and delivery of the successful project One Chance Left, at the intersection of climate science, health and the arts, which was showcased at Science Pavilion and beyond for COP26 Climate Change Conference. She is currently engaged in an ambitious international project between Exeter and Egypt for COP27. She is a strong advocate of planetary health in education and is a member of the Planetary Health Alliance European Hub.

Carole Miller

CPD Administrator

Carole is the Administrator for the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme in the College of Medicine and Health. She has recently joined the team from her previous role working in Student Services in a combined team representing Postgraduate Taught students in the Graduate School of Education and College of Medicine and Health and brings a lot of customer service experience with her.

Carole is the first point of contact for our CPD portfolio and provides a seamless customer service to enquiries, registrations, payments, surveys, certificates and communication. She is ready to support you throughout your journey with us and is available via email and on Teams.

Dr Sally Flint

CPD Co-ordinator

Sally is a writer and editor who lectures in creative writing and publishing. She has experience of working in the NHS and community settings, and has a particular interest in linking healthcare, medicine and the arts. She is creative writing lead on the successful project, One Chance Left, working with Met Office Scientists and health professionals, which was showcased at COP26 climate conference. She joins the CPD team as co-ordinator delighted to be part of developing and promoting innovative courses to improve planetary health. She is also co-founder and editor of Riptide Journal at the University of Exeter.

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