Kieran Breen (Head of Research & Innovation)

Kieran Breen joined St Andrew’s Healthcare to head up the Research team in February 2018.

He had an academic research career before moving to research funding charities - including Parkinson’s UK and Brain Tumour Research -where he implemented new strategic research funding initiatives. He serves on the review boards for a number of international research organisations and has been involved in the development and utilisation of patient data registries.

Kieran is a member of a number of working groups at the European Medicines Agency and was recently appointed as a Visiting Fellow in Secure Mental Health at the University of Loughborough where he co-supervises a number of PhD students. At St Andrew's, he has developed an innovative research strategy focussing on improved patient outcomes and key research areas have included patient inequalities, technology-based therapies, physical exercise, sleep and personalised medicine. He has also led the evaluation of the East Midlands CAMHS Provider Collaborative.

With more than 75 peer-reviewed publications in the area of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Kieran brings over 30 years of research knowledge to St Andrew’s Healthcare.

Louise Millard (Senior Project Manager)

Louise has been working in health research support management, in the higher education sector, since 2013.

Previous roles include working as a television production assistant at the BBC for 15 years, and supporting a county construction training group.

Excited by the prospect of being involved with the translation of research into real outcomes for patients within a healthcare setting, Louise joined St Andrew’s Healthcare from The Open University’s Faculty of Health & Social Care in August 2017.

Inga Stewart (Clinical Research Fellow)

Dr Inga Stewart is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Research Fellow at St Andrew’s Healthcare, with appointments with Universities of Leicester, Birmingham, Kent and Canterbury Christ Church.  For nearly two decades she has worked with patients presenting with behaviour that challenges or offence related risk, currently specialising with those living with degenerative neurological impairment, including Dementia and Huntington’s disease.

Dr Stewart has published in the areas of co-production, risk assessment in Intellectual disability, emerging technology interventions in dementia, overt aggression, inappropriate sexual behaviour and sexuality, operant learning, measuring behavioural outcomes in neurodisability, quality of life in Huntington’s and coercive treatments in forensic psychiatry. Dr Stewart joined the Research & Innovation team in July 2021 and is now leading a programme of investigation exploring co-production with people living with dementia within mental healthcare settings.

Sarrah Fatima (Research Assistant)

Sarrah graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Psychology and Counselling, and recently gained a distinction in her MSc Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health from King's College London. 

Sarrah has worked in the charity sector for over five years; volunteering with Samaritans, Cancer Research and Mind BLMK.

Sarrah joined the R&I team in August 2021 and is currently working on the East Midlands Provider Collaborative CAMHS evaluation, assisting with data collection on a virtual reality based project and developing research which will form the foundation for patient led research at St Andrew's. One such piece of research is a patient led service evaluation looking at patient experiences with discharge planning.

Kristina Brenisin (Senior Research Assistant)

Kristina joined St Andrew's in 2017 as a Healthcare Assistant working in the Women's Mental Health and Personality Disorder service. Her educational background includes an MSc in Psychology. 

In 2020 Kristina joined the Research & Innovation Team and has developed extensive skills and knowledge across a wide range of research areas, has supported external students, published in Peer Reviewed Journals and is currently working on a project in the CAMHS pathway. 

Isobel Doyle (Research Assistant)

Isobel graduated with a 2:1 degree in Psychology from the University of Birmingham in 2021, having her undergraduate dissertation published in the Journal of Psychology. Isobel joined the Research & Innovation Team in 2022, and is currently working on the East Midlands Provider Collaborative CAMHS evaluation. Alongside this, Isobel has assisted with report writing for two projects investigating: predictors of delayed discharges from CAMHS (from a social work perspective) and inequalities experienced by Peer Support Workers. More recently, Isobel has been involved in designing research to explore predictors of delayed discharges from CAMHS using a holistic approach, and analysing existing data to consider the impact of Covid-19 on patients in secure services.

Jacqueline Batchelor (Research Nurse)

Jay joined St Andrew's Healthcare in 2010 as a Healthcare Assistant and progressed to Clinical Nurse Lead. Jay has worked across the charity mainly in the medium secure division and specialises in deaf mental health. As a qualified nurse, Jay actively seeks new learning opportunities which has led her to the Research & Innovation team! From working on various wards for over 12 years, this research role will provide an alternative experience and development opportunities. Jay started in the R & I team in October 2022 and is working on the NSP-4-IMH project.

Lucy Lee (Research Administrator)

Lucy has worked within administration for the majority of her career, however her journey has been a varied one.

She started out as a Physical Education and English Teacher and then became a Police Constable in the Hertfordshire Constabulary where she had a number of roles, including being a Constable in Rickmansworth, Watford and Hemel Hempstead, working in the Divisional Control Room, Area Crime Unit and Community Safety Unit (Domestic Violence).

After moving to Northamptonshire, Lucy worked as a School Administrator at All Saints Primary School in Kingsthorpe, Northampton for 8 years and then joined St Andrew’s Healthcare as the Research Administrator in April 2016.