Who are we?
At the moment, there are five Public Advisors, who have been appointed initially for a three year period. We are:
Simon Porges (Chair)
Simon has been involved in Research as a Research Champion for around three years, during this time he has also been a public representative on a large scale end of life study and participated in a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial. Having been both a cancer patient and carer he is very excited about the prospect of the HRP delivering better outcomes for the people of Sussex through better, outcome driven, health and care research. He lives in Hove with his family and you’ll often find him at parkrun, running on the Downs or at other local running events!
“This has been a fantastic opportunity to contribute to and help shape something that has the potential to be of massive benefit to most importantly the health of people but also the economy of Sussex.”
Palo Almond (Deputy Chair)
Dr Palo Almond is a retired health professional and public health academic and now spends her time painting and exhibiting her art at exhibitions. When she’s not doing this she is supporting and advising on research policy, proposals, and education, either as a research champion with Sussex Community Foundation Trust (SCFT) or as an advisor with the HRP. She has a special interest in promoting health, reducing health inequalities and championing Engagement, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
“It’s been great being involved in an evolving group and realising early on that our input was valued.”
Amy Broadbent
Amy Broadbent is an Expert by Experience, using her experience of children and young people's services to support best practice. Amy also works as a youth consultant for NHS Sussex and lectures at the University of Brighton.
“This opportunity has provided me the platform to get a series of stakeholders together to talk about children and young people research and its implementation in services. We have already started to think about how research can be included on the NHS Sussex Children and Young People online panel”.
Sarah Markham
Sarah is a long-term patient and mathematician with a deep interest in patient safety and addressing health inequalities. She is engaged in Public Participation and Involvement (PPI) and academic work in modelling population health and understanding underlying mechanisms. Like Simon, she is a regular runner.
“I am currently super excited to be a co-Investigator on a funded study of procedural justice in secure hospitals.”
Alan Sutton
Alan holds a number of volunteer roles, including being an Elected & Lead Governor for the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust and a long standing National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Research Champion for his trust, the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust and the wider Kent Sussex and Surrey region.
“I particularly enjoyed the Academic Conference where our group were fully engaged and contributed some great questions and lived experiences.”
As our role and remit becomes clearer, we hope to expand the team ensuring it is as representative of the diversity of the Sussex population as possible.