St Gemma's Academic Unit of Palliative Care

What we do

We work to improve the care of those approaching the end of life through integrated research, teaching and clinical practice. Our work is guided by our values:

• Respect and value patients, carers, staff and all those we work with.
• Innovate and integrate with local clinical practice.
• Inspire and support continual development and sharing of knowledge .
• Build capacity to ensure a sustainable academic unit.
• Be responsible and accountable for the standard of our work.

The St Gemma's Academic Unit of Palliative Care links academic and clinical partners and is physically located on two sites: at Leeds Institute of Health Sciences and St Gemma's Hospice. This underpins our commitment to integrated clinical and academic practice and secured the first and only formal award of University Teaching Hospice for St Gemma's.

Our research

We undertake research that addresses some of the current clinical challenges in palliative care such as improving the management of pain for patients in the community, improving earlier access to palliative care for patients with cancer and non-cancer diseases, and evaluating clinical decision-making and interventions during end-of-life care. Our research informs the delivery of palliative care locally, nationally and internationally. 

We receive research funding from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), Yorkshire Cancer Research, Marie Curie and Horizon Europe. We supervise a range of undergraduate research projects, BSc and Masters students, and actively build research capacity through our supervision of PhD students.    

National Institute for Health Research Clinical Trials

We receive core funding from the Yorkshire and Humber Clinical  Research Network  to recruit into National Institute of Health Research portfolio studies.

We have an embedded research nurse in St Gemma's Hospice and Wheatfields Hospice who opens and recruits to studies including within Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to support research recruitment in Leeds hospitals.

Who we are

People

• Head of Academic Unit and Professor of Palliative Care – Professor Lucy Ziegler
• Associate Professor of Palliative Care – Dr Matthew Allsop
• Associate Professor of Applied Pain Research – Dr Matthew Mulvey
• Clinical Associate Professor of Palliative Care – Dr Sarah Mitchell
• Senior Academic Administrator – Lynn Auty
• Senior Research Fellow – Dr Emma Chapman
• Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow – Dr Gemma Clarke
• Research Fellows – Dr Olivia Robinson, Dr William Goodman
• Research Fellows (Palliative Care) – Jacqueline Birtwistle, Dr Carole Paley
• Project Manager, Deep End Leeds - Aaishah Aslam
• Academic Clinical Fellow – Dr Jack Mowatt
• PhD students – Eme Asuquo, Catherine Malia, Jacqueline Birtwistle, Dr Yousuf El Mokhallalati, Noura Rizk.
• Visiting researchers – Dr Sarute Chawvavanich

Contact details for our team members can be found using the links above.

At St Gemma's Hospice

Head of Teaching and Learning
Trish Stockton

Academic Unit of Palliative Care Research Practitioner

Rachel Byrne
 

Related groups

St Gemma's Academic Unit of Palliative Care sits within the Division of Primary Care, Palliative Care and Public Health, alongside the following themes:

• Primary Care Oncology
• The Health and Wellbeing of Older People
• Implementation Science