Kieran Breen (Head of Research & Development)

Kieran Breen joined St Andrew’s Healthcare to head up the Research team in February 2018.

He had an academic research career before moving to research funding charities - including Parkinson’s UK and Brain Tumour Research -where he implemented new strategic research funding initiatives. He serves on the review boards for a number of international research organisations and has been involved in the development and utilisation of patient data registries.

Kieran is a member of a number of working groups at the European Medicines Agency and was recently appointed as a Visiting Fellow in Secure Mental Health at the University of Loughborough where he co-supervises a number of PhD students. At St Andrew's, he has developed an innovative research strategy focussing on improved patient outcomes and key research areas have included patient inequalities, technology-based therapies, physical exercise, sleep and personalised medicine. He has also led the evaluation of the East Midlands CAMHS Provider Collaborative.

With more than 75 peer-reviewed publications in the area of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Kieran brings over 30 years of research knowledge to St Andrew’s Healthcare.

Louise Millard (Senior Project Manager)

Louise has been working in health research support management, in the higher education sector, since 2013.

Previous roles include working as a television production assistant at the BBC for 15 years, and supporting a county construction training group.

Excited by the prospect of being involved with the translation of research into real outcomes for patients within a healthcare setting, Louise joined St Andrew’s Healthcare from The Open University’s Faculty of Health & Social Care in August 2017.

Esther Gathii (Research Assistant)

Esther has completed an MSc Forensic Psychology and has previously worked in both clinical and education settings. Esther joined St Andrew's in September 2022; initially working a split role as a Research Assistant and an Assistant Psychologist in a low secure setting.  She has gained research experience within the CAMHS pathway and is currently conducting Huntington's Disease (HD) research.

Isobel Doyle (Research Assistant)

Isobel graduated with a 2:1 degree in Psychology from the University of Birmingham in 2021, having her undergraduate dissertation published in the Journal of Psychology. Isobel joined the Research Centre Team in 2022, and is currently working on the East Midlands Provider Collaborative CAMHS evaluation. Alongside this, Isobel has assisted with report writing for two projects: investigating predictors of delayed discharges from CAMHS (from a social work perspective) and inequalities experienced by Peer Support Workers. More recently, Isobel has been involved in designing research to explore predictors of delayed discharges from CAMHS using a holistic approach, and analysing existing data to consider the impact of Covid-19 on patients in secure services.

Lucy Lee (Research Administrator)

Lucy has worked within administration for the majority of her career, however her journey has been a varied one.

She started out as a Physical Education and English Teacher and then became a Police Constable in the Hertfordshire Constabulary where she had a number of roles, including being a Constable in Rickmansworth, Watford and Hemel Hempstead, working in the Divisional Control Room, Area Crime Unit and Community Safety Unit (Domestic Violence).

After moving to Northamptonshire, Lucy worked as a School Administrator at All Saints Primary School in Kingsthorpe, Northampton for 8 years and then joined St Andrew’s Healthcare as the Research Administrator in April 2016.