Our Team

Catherine is a music therapist and clinical academic. She holds an NIHR Clinical Trials Fellowship, at the Pragmatic Clinical Trials Unit, Queen Mary University of London. Her clinical work is within Mental Health Care for Older People's services at East London NHS Foundation Trust whilst her research focuses upon developing and testing arts therapies within secondary mental health care, modelling processes and outcomes and enhancing our understanding of the role of the arts in mental health recovery.

Professor Stefan Priebe graduated in Psychology and Medicine, and qualified as Neurologist, Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist in Germany. He took up his current post in 1997 as Professor for Social and Community Psychiatry at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (Queen Mary University of London). He developed the Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, which in 2012 became a designated WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Services Development and of which he is the Director. In various roles in the United Kingdom and abroad, he has been involved in both developing services and steering research activities in psychiatry. His research focuses on understanding helpful relationships, developing novel therapeutic approaches and evaluating complex interventions in mental health care.

Emma is the Trial Manager of the ERA study and co-ordinates all aspect of the ERA trial management across study sites. Emma has previous experience working on large scale RCT’s in academia and education. Emma has a particular interest in arts therapies, resilience, mental health, and wellbeing across the ages.

Jennifer is a music therapist and Head of Arts Therapies at East London NHS Foundation Trust. Jennifer has supported delivery of a number of arts therapies studies within the Trust and is site lead for London and Bedford in the ERA trial.

Barbara is Research Lead for Arts Therapies and Dance Movement Psychotherapist at Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and is Programme Coordinator and Lecturer on the Counselling course at University College Weston, Bristol. Barbara is site lead for Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health NHS Partnership Trust for the ERA trial.

Claire is the Head Arts Psychotherapist at CNWL NHS Foundation Trust and Operational Lead for Arts Psychotherapists working in adult mental health services within the Trust. She has supported the delivery of the TIME-A music therapy trial for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder at CNWL. She is a music therapist and the site lead for the ERA trial.

Stephen Sandford is Professional Lead for Allied Health Professionals at East London NHS Foundation Trust. He is a music therapist, advises on intervention development and training and supports the clinical delivery of groups in the ERA trial.

Vicky is a researcher in arts therapies, educator, teacher and dance movement psychotherapist. She moved to Edge Hill University in 2013 to take up a professorial appointment and lead the arts for wellbeing research theme. In 2014 she was awarded with an honorary doctorate of medicine at Riga Stradins University in recognition of her contribution to the development of arts therapies training in Latvia. Vicky advises on intervention development, manual adherence and therapist training for the ERA trial.

Dominik is an art psychotherapist at Central and North-West London NHS Trust and Professor of Practice at Brunel University. Dominik coordinates a programme of arts therapies early career research development at the International Centre for Arts Psychotherapies Training and is interim vice president for the European Federation of Art Therapy. Dominik advises on intervention development, manual adherence and therapist training for the ERA trial.

Val is the Chief Executive Officer of the British Association of Art Therapists. She trained in sculpture at Camberwell School of Art and qualified as an Art Therapist in 1986. She is also a qualified Group Psychotherapist and Organisational Consultant. Val advises on intervention development, manual adherence and therapist training for the ERA trial.

Mike is Professor in Mental Health Research in the Centre for Psychiatry at Imperial College London. He also works as an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Waterview Centre a specialist service for people with personality disorder provided by Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust. His research focuses on the development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions for people with complex mental health needs and he led on the MATISSE trial of art therapy for schizophrenia. Mike advises on overall trial design, conduct and management for ERA.

Since joining the Pragmatic Clinical Trials Unit in 2010, Richard's work has focused on the theory and practice of running clinical trials. His research interests centre on innovative approaches to clinical trial design, with the aim of improving efficiency. This work has led to publications in the British Medical Journal, the International Journal of Epidemiology, and Statistics in Medicine, among others. He has also written and distributed software (SimSam) that allows accurate and transparent sample size calculation in trial designs of any complexity, using simulation. Richard leads on the statistical design and analysis for the ERA trial.

Boby is a Professor of Health Economics at the Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London and leads the work of the health economics team at the Centre.She has wide ranging interests in health economic evaluation and health policy analyses with particular focus on cost-effectiveness analysis alongside clinical trials, evidence synthesis, heterogeneity in cost-effectiveness and statistical and epidemiologic methods in these areas. Her work on effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of statins for cardiovascular disease prevention has been highly influential in informing treatment recommendations for people at different vascular disease risk. Boby leads on the health economic design and analysis for the ERA trial.