UCLH / UCL Centre for Nurse and Midwife Led Research (CNMR) has appointed a physiotherapist and dietician as senior clinical lecturers at the BRC-supported UCLH / UCL Centre for Nurse and Midwife Led Research (CNMR).
The CNMR supports allied health professionals, nurses and midwives in developing world-class quality of care research. Newly appointed senior lecturer and consultant physiotherapist Dr Stephen Ashford will develop a new approach to rehabilitation for people with brain injury and spasticity known as goal-Directed and person-centred Rehabilitation (Direct-Rehab). Consultant dietician Dr Liz Weekes will lead a large, observational study looking at the impact of malnutrition on older people in the community.
Dr Ashford has clinical expertise in the management of spasticity and the physical aspects of neurological rehabilitation.
He previously developed new measurement tools to assess the recovery of people with stroke and brain injury – such as new leg and arm activity measures – and edited the national guidelines on spasticity management published in 2018 by the Royal College of Physicians. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Neurology in 2018.
Dr Weekes is a dietician with 25 years’ clinical and research experience in the detection and management of disease-related malnutrition.
She has been involved in research priority setting – for instance, in the area of malnutrition and nutrition screening – and the development of nutrition guidelines both in the UK and internationally. She recently led the guideline committee on the estimation of nutritional requirements for the Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Group, a specialist group of the British Dietetic Association. She has also undertaken Cochrane systematic reviews.
Dr Ashford said: “I am excited to start work at UCLH/UCL and collaborate with colleagues across both organisations. I am particularly pleased to link with the teams at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queens Square and to collaborate on further research and grant applications.”
Dr Weekes said: “I’m delighted to start at the CNMR. My experience includes evaluating community and hospital initiatives to improve nutritional care – particularly among older people – and I look forward to working with others at UCLH and UCL to do the same thing here.”
