Dr Anna Taylor

Profile

I studied my medical degree at the University of Bristol, graduating in 2017. While at university I also completed an intercalated BSc in Global Health. Following my undergraduate training, I undertook an Academic Foundation Programme at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. I subsequently worked as a Clinical Education Fellow for a year at the same trust. In 2020 I moved to Leeds for an Academic Clinical Fellowship within the Core Psychiatry training scheme in West Yorkshire. I am currently a higher trainee (ST4) in General Adult Psychiatry.

I first joined the University as a Visiting Clinical Research Fellow in the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences in 2020 at the start of my NIHR-funded Academic Clinical Fellowship. During this time I also completed a PGCert in Health Research at the University of Leeds.

Research interests

I am an early career researcher but I have been involved in research in varying capacities since the beginning of my undergraduate medical training. My key research interest is in psycho-oncology, specifically in the psychological impact and distress associated with pancreatic cancer. However, However, I have experience of other research areas of liaison psychiatry and psychological medicine including self-harm and suicide, domestic violence, persistent physical symptoms and medical workforce wellbeing. I have conducted studies in a variety of methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative.

I have published 37 peer-reviewed papers and I have a H-index of 17.

In February 2024, I began an NIHR-Funded Doctoral Fellowship within the Division of Psychological and Social Medicine (Leeds Institute of Health Sciences). My PhD project is ‘PSYCHPANC: Exploring the diagnosis, understanding and management of PSYCHological distress associated with operable and potentially operable PANcreatic Cancers’. I will be using mixed-methods to determine whether psychological distress in pancreatic cancer is being identified in primary care, and how patients with operable pancreatic cancer understand and experience distress associated with their diagnosis and treatment, in order to develop recommendations for an intervention.

I am also co-leading on another ongoing mixed-methods study exploring presentations and outcomes of patients with unexplained abdominal pain under investigation by general surgeons. This is funded by the Leeds Hospitals Charity (£179,492).

Lastly, I am a member of Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Optimal Care Pathway Steering Group.

Qualifications

• MBChB (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• PGCert Health Research (Distinction)
• PGDip Clinical Education (Distinction)
• BSc (First Class Hons)

Professional memberships

• MRCPsych Royal College of Psychiatrists
• GMC 7561076

Student education

I contribute to a number of aspects of teaching including the University of Leeds’ CPD course for Yorkshire Core Psychiatry Trainees, and am also delivering regular critical appraisal teaching to Leeds-based trainees. I also help with supervision of Academic Clinical Fellows and informally mentor medical students.

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
• Psychological and Social Medicine