Meet our team

Dr Vasso Anagnostopoulou
Research Fellow in Medical Statistics

Vasso joined BSMS in 2019, supporting the research activities of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and in 2023, she completed her MSc in Medical Statistics at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is currently working as a statistician and data manager at the NIHR Global Health Research Unit for NTDs and the NIHR 5S Foundation, and as a statistician at the Brighton & Sussex Clinical Trials Unit (REDUCe2 trial).

V.Anagnostopoulou@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Vasso Anagnostopoulou's profile >

Dr Clio Berry
Reader in Healthcare Evaluation and Improvement

Clio is a Reader in Healthcare Evaluation and Improvement at the BSMS. She studied for her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Reading 2004-2007 and completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at University of Sussex 2010-2014, focusing on hopefulness as an individual and relational mechanism of social inclusion for young people experiencing psychosis, and the development of hope-inspiring therapeutic relationships in ‘generic’ mental healthcare.

C.Berry@bsms.ac.uk >

Dr Clio Berry's profile >

Dr Lavinia Bertini
Research Fellow

Lavinia is a medical anthropologist with interest in critical public health and applied health and social care research. She works as a Research Fellow within the Public Health theme of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for Kent, Surrey and Sussex region (ARC KSS), where she supports the development and implementation of research priorities. She works on a range of projects, with a focus on infectious control in domiciliary care, hospital discharge and community-based services.

l.bertini@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Lavinia Bertini's profile >

Prof Stephen Bremner 
Professor of Medical Statistics

Professor Stephen Bremner joined BSMS in 2015 as a senior lecturer and has been closely involved with the development of the Brighton and Sussex Clinical Trials Unit (BSCTU) which achieved full registration status with the UK Clinical Research Collaboration in 2023. Stephen is also a senior statistician for the NIHR Centre for Global Health Research in Neglected Tropical Diseases at BSMS and a member of the Pre-Sponsorship Review Panel, run by the Joint Clinical Research Office. He is an Editor-in-Chief for the BioMed Central journal, Pilot and Feasibility Studies.

S.Bremner@bsms.ac.uk >                                                                                                 

Prof Stephen Bremner's profile >

Dr Max Cooper 
Senior Lecturer in Primary Care

Dr Max Cooper studied medicine at Southampton University and completed an academic fellowship at the University of Glasgow. Max leads GP teaching in years 4 and 5, including community placements, simulation, and assessment.  His research/teaching also looks at healthcare access, global health and the history of medical education in Sussex.

M.Cooper@bsms.ac.uk >

Dr Max Cooper's profile >

Prof Richard de Visser
Professor of Pyschology

Richard de Visser has worked in the fields of health psychology and public health for over 25 years. He is a Professor of Psychology at Brighton & Sussex Medical School and in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, where has received awards for his individual and group teaching. Richard’s research interests span a broad range of topics in health psychology, including: sexuality and relationships; gender and health; alcohol use; use of health services; and cross-cultural analyses.

r.o.devisser@bsms.ac.uk

dr richard de Visser's Profile > 

Robert Dickinson
Research Assistant (SPICES)

Robert Dickinson is an international relations, geography, international development, and policy professional with six years professional and six years academic experience in research, management, teaching, communication, and project management/administration. He is currently leading the African Cabinet and Political Elite Data project, assisting the SPICES project, and researching how the Trump Administration may fit into historical patterns of neoliberalism as a candidate for a PhD in International Relations.

r.dickinson@sussex.ac.uk

Robert Dickinson's Profile >

Dr Katie East
Senior Lecturer in Public Health

Katie is joining the department as a Senior Lecturer in Public Health. She has recently completed a Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) Academic Fellowship at King's College London (KCL) assessing people's perceptions of the harms of vaping. Katie's research primarily focuses on nicotine and tobacco products, perceptions, and policies. Katie leads the England arm of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project and Co-Chairs the international Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Policy and Regulatory Science Network. She completed her PhD in Addiction Sciences at KCL and has an MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences from University College London. Katie also has an interest in research culture and open science and has consulted for UKRI on these topics.

k.east@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Katherine East's profile >

Dr Saskia Eddy
Lecturer in Medical Statistics

Saskia is a Lecturer in Medical Statistics at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Saskia completed a BSc in Mathematics at University of Reading followed by an MSc in Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She joined King's College London in 2017 as a Trial Statistician and worked in collaboration with NICE and NHS England to successfully commission two interventions for cancer and cerebral palsy. Saskia was awarded Barts charity funding to conduct her PhD at Queen Mary University of London’s Centre for Evaluation and Methods. Saskia’s PhD investigated the sample size of pilot and feasibility trials.

s.eddy@bsms.ac.uk

DR Saskia Eddy's profile >

Dr Carl Fernandes
Senior General Practice Teaching Fellow

Dr Carl Fernandes’ journey to working at BSMS began rather close by – he grew up in Brighton. He left to train at The Royal Free and University College Medical School and qualified as a GP in London. Since returning to Brighton he has taught BSMS students across all years and in his current role he enjoys delivering General Practice teaching in Year 4 and 5.

Dr Carl Fernandes' profile >

Dr Elizabeth Ford 
Reader in Health Data Science 

Dr Elizabeth Ford is a mixed-methods researcher investigating human factors that affect the quality of routinely collected health data, with a particular interest in free text.  Her key interests are in mental health and dementia. Her research using primary care data spans qualitative work on data creation, to creating machine-learning predictive models to identify unrecognised cases of chronic illnesses.

E.M.Ford@bsms.ac.uk >

Dr Liz Ford's profile >

Anna-Maria Frastali
Research Assistant (Primary Care & Public Health)

Anna-Maria is a Research Assistant at BSMS. Her role is within Primary and Community Health Services, supporting the work of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (KSS). She has completed a MSc degree in Psychology with distinction at the University of Sussex where she received the Commitment to Upskilling award for volunteering and working in mental health while studying. Before switching careers, she worked in arts marketing for a decade, most recently at the V&A museum where her interest in co-production began when working on the transformation of the Museum of Childhood to the Young V&A.

A.Frastali@bsms.ac.uk >

Anna-Maria Frastali's profile >

Dr Penny Geer
GP Senior Clinical Fellow Co-ordinator

Dr Penny Geer studied medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne and completed GP training in East Surrey. She has been a GP Partner in Crawley and Horley since 2001, becoming a GP trainer in 2006. Penny has been involved in both medical politics and NHS commissioning, but realised it was teaching that brought her joy, so joined BSMS in 2019. She is part of the Clinical and Community module academic team in Phase 1 and also teaches GP in Year 4. As a GP, Penny is interested in all areas of clinical medicine, but particularly in how organisational processes impact the patient pathway, managing change and clinical leadership.

p.geer@bsms.ac.uk

DR PENNY GEER'S PROFILE >

Katie Goddard
Project Administrator 

Katie Goddard joined the department in January 2020, assisting on PRODEMOS – a randomised controlled trial exploring how a mobile health app can reduce the incidence of dementia. Katie is responsible for leading the patient journey; communicating with and supporting participants, updating tracking systems, community engagement as well as data collection, entry and analysis. Katie is passionate about health and wellbeing and continues to work in the community conducting mixed methods research, raising awareness and promoting access to local and online services and resources. In addition to her role at BSMS Katie also works in libraries, providing a service for both public and academic communities.

K.Goddard@bsms.ac.uk >

Katie Goddard's profile >

Dr Lauren Hardie-Bick
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education

Lauren has a background in social science and medical education.  Whilst studying for her PhD at Durham University she started teaching social science to undergraduate medical students.  After completing her doctorate, she then continued this interest and was appointed as a Lecturer in Medical Sociology at Keele medical school, where she was involved in developing and delivering the new undergraduate curriculum.  She joined BSMS in 2017 and is Deputy Lead for Clinical and Community Practice 201 and lead for the Inequality and Inclusion in Healthcare strand in year 1 and 2. 

l.hardie-bick@bsms.ac.uk 

Lauren's full profile >

Damla Harmanci
PhD Student 

Damla is a PhD student at the Primary Care and Public Health department at BSMS. She completed both her undergraduate and postgraduate training at the University of Leeds, where she received a BA in Politics and Sociology, and a MA in Social and Political Thought. Her current work combines this sociological lens with a view towards combatting health inequalities in primary care and other healthcare services.

d.harmanci@bsms.ac.uk

Damla Harmanci's Profile > 

Daisy Haywood
PhD Student

Daisy is a PhD student in the BSMS Primary Care and Public Health department. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Surrey, during which time she undertook a placement year as a Research Assistant at King’s College London. Since graduating, she has worked as a Research, Data, and Audit Assistant within the NHS for two years prior to commencing her PhD. Her current work focuses on the co-production of a sustainable mental health and wellbeing intervention for student carers.

D.Haywood1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

Daisy Haywood's profile >

Dr Menaka Jegatheesan
GP Teaching Fellow

Dr Menaka Jegatheesan did her undergraduate medical training at St George's University of London, and completed her general practice training within the Kent, Surrey and Sussex deanery. Prior to joining BSMS, she was a Clinical Teaching Fellow at Kingston Hospital and also completed her PG Cert in Medical Education. At present, she is working on CAPSULE and is involved in teaching undergraduate medical students in the older years. Her particular interest includes simulation. 

M.Jegatheesan@bsms.ac.uk >

Dr Chris Jones 
Senior Research Fellow in Medical Statistics (CTU) 

Chris Jones’s main areas of research include the statistical aspects of clinical trials and lab-based studies, RNA biology, cancer and genetics.

C.I.Jones@bsms.ac.uk >

Dr Chris Jones' profile >

Sonia Khan 
Senior Departmental Adminstrator

Sonia Khan joined the department in November 2012, responsible for diary management for the Head of the Department, overseeing of the finances within PCPH and HR recruitment within the department. Line manager to the Unit Administrator.

PrimarycareDA@bsms.ac.uk >

Sonia Khan's profile >

Prof Carrie Llewellyn 
Head of Department, Professor of Applied Behavioural Medicine 

Professor Carrie Llewellyn is a Professor of Applied Behavioural Medicine, a behavioural scientist and a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Carrie has taught undergraduate medical students since 2002 and has over twenty years’ expertise in applied, patient orientated research across a range of research designs and analysis. Before coming to BSMS in 2005, she worked as a cancer epidemiologist and trained at Kings College London for six years.

C.D.Llewellyn@bsms.ac.uk >

Prof Carrie Llewellyn profile >

Research Fellow in Primary and Community Health Services

Nina is a Research Fellow in Primary and Community Health Services, supporting the work of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (KSS). Nina favours both cross disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to her varied research interests which are very broadly connected by a foundational interest in embodiment and relationality, in particular the ways in which structural-level social factors and interpersonal dynamics relate to individual experiences of (mental) health, with stigmatising processes representing a central related concern.

N.Lockwood@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Nina Lockwood's profile >

Prof Anjum Memon 
Chair in Epidemiology & Public Health Medicine 

Professor Anjum Memon is a medically qualified epidemiologist and public health academic. He trained in epidemiology at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Sir Richard Doll FRS – the eminent epidemiologist who discovered the main hazards of smoking. Anjum joined BSMS in 2005, having previously worked at the Universities of Oxford, Kuwait and Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and an Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine.

A.Memon@bsms.ac.uk >

Prof Anjum Memon's profile >

Jo Middleton 
Research Fellow

Jo Middleton is a biologist trained in medical and veterinary acarology. He collaborates with research in Life Sciences at the University of Sussex and Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at University of Brighton. Much of Jo’s research and teaching involves interrelated work at two very different scales, that of microscopic parasites (specifically acarines) and that of Planetary Health.

J.Middleton@bsms.ac.uk >

Jo Middleton's profile >

Patrick Nyikavaranda
PhD Researcher

Patrick is based in the Primary Care and Public Health Department at BSMS. He completed his undergraduate Psychology (BSc Hons) degree at University of West London (UWL). Patrick continued to complete his Master’s in Health Psychology at UWL. Patrick currently works with several NHS Trusts, universities, organisations and researchers around mental health, wellbeing, improving access and challenging inequalities.

p.nyikavaranda@bsms.ac.uk

Patrick Nyikavaranda's profile > 

Dr Marija Pantelic
Senior Lecturer in Public Health

Marija is a health stigma researcher using a range of mixed methods, including social epidemiology, co-production and evidence synthesis. Her work aims to depict, quantify, and identify risk and protective pathways to shame, discrimination, marginalisation and resilience among people living with or affected by stigmatised health conditions such as HIV and Long Covid. Her PhD was the first large-scale epidemiological study of stigma experienced by adolescents living with HIV in South Africa. She is currently working on studies examining stigma and health inequities in HIV, gender-affirming care, and Long Covid in the UK, Argentina, Ghana, the Philippines, and Trinidad and Tobago. 

M.Pantelic@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Marija Pantelic's profile >

Charlotte Rawlinson
Trial Manager for The Looking Forward Project

Charlotte completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at University of Reading in 2011, returning to University of Sussex to complete a Masters in Cognitive Neuroscience. In 2015 she moved to London to work as a Research Assistant and Trial Manager across multiple studies in Neurology and Psychiatry at University College London and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, returning again to Sussex in 2023. Charlotte is now a Trial Manager at PCPH for The Looking Forward Project alongside Dr Clio Berry.

C.Rawlinson2@bsms.ac.uk

Charlotte Rawlinson's profile >

Pippa Richardson
Assistant Departmental Administrator

Pippa started at BSMS in February 2023 as Unit Administrator for Primary Care and Public Health, supporting Sonia Khan, Departmental Assistant, in all organisational aspects of the department.

P.Richardson@bsms.ac.uk

Pippa Richardson's profile >

Leigh Roberts
Assistant Departmental Administrator

Leigh started at BSMS in November 2023 as Unit Administrator for Primary Care and Public Health, supporting Sonia Khan and job sharing with Pippa Richardson, in all organisational aspects of the department.

L.Roberts@bsms.ac.uk

Leigh Roberts' profile >

Dr Imogen Rogers  
Research Fellow

Dr Imogen Rogers studied Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, before completing an MSc in Human Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Aberdeen in 1993. In 2013 she moved to New York, and in 2016 started work for Willis Towers Watson as a data scientist. After returning to the UK Imogen joined the Department of Primary Care and Public Health in August 2017.

I.Rogers@bsms.ac.uk >

Dr Imogen Rogers' profile >

Dr Kiersten Simmons
PhD student

Dr Kiersten Simmons is a Medical Doctoral Fellow at BSMS, and HIV/ Sexual Health Physician at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. She embarked on a PhD in February 2023, entitled 'Improving Access to Sexual Health and Sexual Wellbeing for Midlife Women (40-65 years) in Under-resourced coastal communities in East Sussex. She is passionate about improving access to research and healthcare for under-served groups. She set up the Kent, Surrey, and Sussex Women's healthcare research network, and the UK's under-served coastal communities research network, and warmly welcomes anybody who would like to join these to email kiersten.simmons@nhs.net.

K.Simmons1@uni.bsms.ac.uk

Dr Kiersten Simmon's profile >

Dr Neil Singh
Senior General Practice Teaching Fellow

Dr Neil Singh studied medicine at the University of Cambridge, where he won the Cuthbert Prize in medical humanities. After initially working in hospital medicine as an Academic Trainee, then a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge (working on stem cell biology), he realised his interests lay not at the level of molecules, but rather in the study of the health determinants of entire populations.

N.Singh2@bsms.ac.uk 

Dr Neil Singh's profile > 

Safi Smith
Research Assistant

Safi completed her undergraduate degree in anthropology at the University of Bristol in 2021 and her masters in medical anthropology at Durham University in 2022. She is currently working as a research assistant for The Looking Forward Project.

s.smith2@bsms.ac.uk

Safi Smith's profile >

Dr Sangeetha Sornalingam
GP Clinical Teaching Fellow 

Dr Sornalingam is a General Practitioner with an interest in women’s health. She completed academic general practice training in August 2014 and is studying part time for a Masters in medical research (MRes). She has been in her current post since August 2015.  

S.Sornalingam@bsms.ac.uk > 

Dr Sangeetha Sornalingam's profile >

Prof Harm van Marwijk
Professor in General Practice

Prof Harm van Marwijk is a part-time GP and former Head of the Department, after being in similar roles in Manchester from 2015 to 2017. Before that he worked at VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam. His PhD was on depression in the elderly as seen in general practice. 

H.VanMarwijk@bsms.ac.uk >

Prof Harm van Marwijk's profile >

Tara Cahill 
Honorary Research Fellow

Tara is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at BSMS, working as Public Health Research Officer at Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC). BHCC have strong established collaborations with BSMS. The Public Health team are involved in several research projects, as well as joint exploration of collaborative funding bids. For example, the Health Counts city-wide survey (with University of Brighton/BSMS) and the Safe and Well at School Survey (with the University of Sussex). Tara is currently providing co-supervision on module 404 Individual Research Projects (IRPs) for undergraduate medical students. Current areas of focus for Tara at BHCC are strengthening the local authority’s approach to research, mapping and developing funding opportunities and applications and developing collaborations within the local research infrastructure. The Honorary Fellowship allows for strengthened relationships between the Department of Primary Care and Public Health and the local authority and provides opportunities for reciprocal learning across the two organisations. Prior to her role at BHCC, Tara worked in Behaviour Change Intervention Research at a non-for-profit organisation and has an academic background within the social sciences and social research.

t.cahill@bsms.ac.uk >

Dr Natalie Edelman 
Visiting Senior Research Fellow

Natalie is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow with a substantive post at the University of Kent. She is a mixed methods researcher specialising in the social and critical epidemiology of sexual and reproductive health, and on trauma-informed approaches to conducting research. She has a strong background in research methodology innovation and is currently exploring use of Geographical Information Systems for place-based intervention research. She is also the Research Prioritisation Lead for NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration Medway. Her current PhD supervision spans young people's sexual and mental health, identification of modern slavery and domestic abuse in sexual health telemedicine, and the experiences of Female Genital Mutilation survivors.