Upcoming Events

The Health Behaviour Change Research Group, the HRB Primary Care Clinical Trials Network Ireland, the Health Promotion Research Centre, PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway and Diabetes Collaborative Clinical Trial Network (DC-CTN) are running a lunchtime seminar series on ZOOM to highlight research in the areas of Population Health and Health Services. Diary dates and registration links below!‌

ALL WELCOME! Please feel free to invite colleagues and contacts who may be interested in attending.

• Tues 14th March: Dr Saintuya Dashdondog and Dr Martin Power - Older People and Sex: Tackling the Taboo REGISTER!

Summary: While the topics of sex, sexuality or sexual health often receive significant attention, older people are a commonly conspicuous by their absence in discussion or debate. In large part this can be attributed to a commonly held, though often unspoken, view of older people as asexual. This myth tends to be reflected throughout all levels of health and social care systems, with few, if any, services for older people, a lack of organisational policies and specific training, and personal barriers for health and social care professionals, as well as for older people themselves. For example, concerns over embarrassment or discomfort due to age and/or gender differences between older people and their healthcare professional have been noted to frequently prevent any discussion of sexual activity or sexual health at consultations. Nonetheless, as the Edusexage project partners found, health and social care professionals are often older people’s preferred contact for raising such topics. This Edusexage presentation discusses these and other findings from the user’s needs report, which collected data through surveys, focus groups and interviews with older people from the project partners countries – France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Spain.

Bios: Dr Saintuya Dashdondog and Dr Martin Power are collaborators on the Edusexage project, as well as on other EU projects. Saintuya pursued her PhD with the Discipline of Health Promotion after a career in public health, including working at both national and grass-root community levels on various local and international projects. Martin is a lecturer in the Discipline of Health Promotion and has published on areas such as risk and regulation, care planning and health and social care professionals’ education.

• Tues 4th April: Dr Tomás Griffin - The Riase of the Machines: The 5th Age of T1 Diabetes REGISTER!

Summary: This seminar will discuss the evolving diabetes technology landscape for people living with type 1 diabetes. In particular it will focus on continuous glucose monitoring, smart connected devices and hybrid closed loop insulin pump therapy. We will explore where we are at in Ireland with access to diabetes technology. The seminar will conclude with a look into the future and what the 6^th age of type 1 diabetes care might look like.

Bio: Dr Tomás Griffin is a graduate of the school of Medicine at the National University of Ireland Galway (First Honour). He completed a PhD entitled, “The Role of Novel Biomarkers in Addressing the Burden of Chronic Kidney Disease in Diabetes Mellitus” at the National University of Ireland Galway. In addition, he holds a Masters in Clinical Research (First Honour) and a Higher Diploma in Clinical Education (First Honour) from the National University of Ireland Galway. Dr Griffin was awarded and completed a competitive Clinical Fellowship in Diabetes Technology with a special focus on diabetes in pregnancy at the prestigious Leicester Diabetes Research Centre (2021-2022), a paragon of diabetes research.  He is an honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester and a Clinical Consultant in Diabetes Communication Technology at the University of Dundee. Dr Griffin was previously the clinical lead for the Insulin Pump/Technology services at Galway University Hospitals, Ireland. He was the local lead for the roll-out of the Hybrid Closed Loop Insulin Pump Pilot at Leicester General Hospital. Dr Griffin is due to take up post a Consultant Physician/Senior Lecturer in Medicine at University Hospital Limerick/University of Limerick. In addition to multiple academic publications, Dr Griffin has received national and international awards for his research. 

• Tues 18th April: Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) Triple-Header REGISTER!

Speaker 1: Linda M. Collins, Professor of Social & Behavioral Sciences and Biostatistics, Director of the Center for Advancement and Dissemination of Intervention Optimization 

Talk title: A brief introduction to the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST)

Bio: Professor Collins’s interests are focused on development, dissemination, and application of the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), an innovative methodological framework for optimizing and evaluating interventions in public health, education, criminal justice, and many other fields. MOST integrates ideas from engineering, behavioral science, multivariate statistics, health economics, and decision analysis.  The objective of MOST is to improve intervention effectiveness, affordability, scalability, and efficiency, balancing these strategically to achieve intervention EASE.  Professor Collins has collaborated on research applying MOST in a range of areas, including HIV, smoking cessation, prevention of excessive alcohol use in college students, and weight loss. She is currently also collaborating on development of methods for optimization of adaptive interventions; decision-making based on the results of an optimization trial; and optimizing interventions for value-efficiency.  Her research has been funded by the United States National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and National Science Foundation.  Professor Collins’s publications have appeared in journals in the behavioral sciences, quantitative methodology, medicine, and engineering.  She has given more than 150 invited presentations on MOST worldwide as well as numerous workshops. 

Speaker 2: Dr Sam Smith, Associate Professor in Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds. 

Talk title: Optimisation of a complex intervention to support medication adherence in women with breast cancer: the ROSETA study

Bio: Dr Sam Smith is supported by an NIHR Advanced Fellowship and holds a Yorkshire Cancer Research University Academic Fellowship. He is an experienced investigator in the fields of cancer control and intervention optimisation. His specific interests include the psychological factors affecting the use of cancer medicines, cancer in high risk populations, weight management, physical activity, and clinical trial methodology. His academic background is in behavioural science and health psychology, and he uses a range of quantitative and qualitative methods within his research.

Speaker 3: Sophie Green, PhD student, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds.

Talk title: Acceptability, fidelity and trial experience: A process evaluation of the ROSETA pilot fractional factorial trial

Bio: Sophie’s research focuses on the development, optimisation and evaluation of a complex intervention to support medication adherence in women with early stage breast cancer. Her research interests include applying intervention optimisation within the field of cancer prevention and control.

• Tues 2nd May: Dr Virginia Minogue - Embedding PPI within the HSE R&D Department REGISTER!

Bio: Dr Virginia Minogue is a research management consultant, adviser, coach and mentor, with HSE Research and Development. She previously worked in research management for NHS England and also for a number of NHS Trusts. She is an experienced Senior Manager, in the public and third sector, working at national, regional and local level, leading on commissioning, research policy, strategy and governance. She has a history of involving service users, patients and carers in all aspects of commissioning and research. Virginia also has wide university teaching experience. Virginia is also an experienced charity trustee and has worked for a number of charities. She is a member of IPPOSI and co-chair of the EUPATI Irish Platform. She leads the PPI in research and the knowledge translation, dissemination and impact work streams for HSE Research and Development.

• Tues 16th May: Dr Sinéad Lydon - Reflections on Patient Safety in General Practice REGISTER!

Summary: Dr Lydon’s talk will bring together more than 7 years of research on patient safety in general practice that has been conducted within University of Galway’s Discipline of General Practice and the Irish Centre for Applied Patient Safety and Simulation. It will explore how our understanding of patient safety in general practice has changed, challenges to conducting research in this setting, and priorities for future research in the area.

Bio: Dr Sinéad Lydon is currently an Associate Professor in Primary Care within University of Galway’s Department of General Practice. Sinéad completed her PhD in Psychology at Trinity College Dublin in 2015. Her current research is focused on raising standards in medical education, improving the quality and safety of care across the healthcare system, and engaging patients in quality and safety improvement. In 2019, she became the first Irish Certified Professional in Patient Safety.