What is your role in the BTRU?
I am a Research Fellow and part of the PRO-CAR-T study team. We’re developing a digital system that helps monitor CAR‑T therapy, even when patients are at home. By using an app, patients can share how they’re feeling and report any symptoms. This should help care teams spot potential problems earlier and offer support sooner. The information shared may also help us understand how CAR‑T therapy affects different people, which may improve future care and treatment.
What are you trying to achieve with your research?
My work focuses on making health research more person‑centred. I look at existing research and gather people’s experiences to understand what really matters in day‑to‑day life with a health condition - not just what can be measured in a clinic. I think that embedding patient and public voices throughout our research makes it more relevant, practical, and grounded in real needs. By doing this - my hope is that the PRO-CAR-T digital system will produce information that not only improves health outcomes, but also the experience of care for patients and their families.
What do you like most about your job?
What I like most is the opportunity to bring real patient and public voices into the heart of research. I find it incredibly meaningful to listen to people’s lived experiences and then make sure those insights genuinely influence the evidence we generate and the decisions we make. Knowing that my work can help shape research questions, outcomes, and recommendations to reflect what really matters to patients is very motivating.
I also enjoy the variety of my role, moving between evidence synthesis, engagement activities, and collaborative work with multidisciplinary teams. Each part of the process adds a different perspective, and together they help create research that is not only rigorous but also compassionate and relevant.
Most importantly, I value the sense of purpose that comes with knowing my work contributes to more person‑centred healthcare. When the research we produce has the potential to improve people’s experiences, empower their choices, or make care more responsive, it feels incredibly rewarding.
What is the hardest part of your job?
The hardest part of my job is balancing the complexity of research with the real‑world needs and expectations of patients. People often share very personal and meaningful insights, and translating those into rigorous, actionable evidence can be challenging. It can also be difficult when resources, timelines, or existing evidence limitations make it hard to fully capture everything that patients feel is important. Even so, these challenges motivate me to keep improving the way we involve people and make research more person‑centred.
How do you explain your job to other people and what do they normally say?
I usually say that I help make health research more person‑centred. I review existing evidence and also speak to patients to understand what matters most to them, then use those insights to shape research questions and outcomes. Most people respond by saying something like, “That’s really important,” or “It’s good to know patients’ voices are being listened to.” Many are surprised by how much influence patient perspectives can have on research.
What would your dream job be – if you were not a researcher?
My dream job would probably involve travelling and exploring vegetarian food from around the world. I love trying new dishes wherever I go, and even though I’m vegetarian, I still consider myself a foodie because I always try the local vegetarian version of anything. I also have a habit of coming home and attempting to recreate dishes. They always turn out edible, even if I can never quite recreate my own “recreation”! So I think a dream role for me would be something like a travel‑and‑food writer or a vegetarian food explorer, something that lets me discover flavours, cultures, and stories while being on the move.
What’s one thing you wish more people understood about your field?
I wish more people understood that person‑centred research is not just about “asking patients what they think”, it’s a rigorous and meaningful way of improving the quality and relevance of evidence. Patient and public perspectives aren’t an optional extra; they highlight priorities, outcomes, and real‑world challenges that traditional research often overlooks. When we involve people properly, the research becomes more useful, more compassionate, and more likely to make a difference in actual care.