Our team

Dr Simona Fourie (Clinical Research Facility Operational Lead)

     I qualified as a nurse over 30 years ago, and have worked in health research for over ten years following work as specialist colorectal / pelvic floor nurse. My main area of expertise is gastrointestinal disease, surgery and cancer. For the last 9 years, I have been building up and leading ORNIID. I currently work on national and international collaborative work, study design, securing approvals from ethics and funders, and supporting other research nurses to fulfil their career progression. Alongside my post as a research manager, I have also recently completed a PhD in Nursing, and hope to pursue a clinical academic role in the future. Enthusiast in raising the nursing profession profile and supporting early career nurse researchers, I am hoping that our current and future team work will set an example for others to follow.

Gerard Mawhinney (Senior Research Nurse)

 I am a registered adult nurse and have worked in healthcare both clinically and commercially for over 15 years. I have a keen interest in “bench to bedside research”. Research within healthcare helps to improve quality, safety and efficiency of patient care. I have recently completed an MSc in Nursing,my research interests include, digital health, video informed consent, shared decision making and patient experience in perioperative care. My work in research is helping me in my clinical role, and I currently conduct a service evaluation on the use of video consent for spinal cancers.

Katarzyna Kuczwara (Research Practitioner)

I am a qualified Biomedical Scientist and have worked in this profession for over five years. However, my curiosity about Patient care and how research can improve patients live made me apply for the research practitioner position. Since I started, I have gained basic knowledge about inflammatory bowel diseases. I believe that the research projects we run are significant for the Patients and future generations.

Sophie Cradock (Research Nurse)

After working as a nurse within a Major Trauma Emergency department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham throughout the COVID pandemic, it became apparent to me that I wanted expand my academic career within research. Seeing first-hand what a deadly disease can do to a population, I felt that I wanted to contribute to improving care for the future of patients. I trained as an adult nurse at the University of Birmingham, however I am now practising as a Paediatric Research Nurse hoping to complete a masters in Neonatology or Paediatrics.

I became increasingly interested in Paediatrics and Neonates due to several experiences as a A&E nurse. I witnessed and nursed paediatric patients with life threatening diseases within an intense setting, in which gave me an insight into paediatric nursing, including cardiac arrests, emergency C-Sections and child abuse. These experiences sparked my interest in how to improve their quality of life.

 I am currently working on a study called MIMIC. The focus of this study is how the intestine matures and how the immune cells of the intestine first interact with the outside world. I find this fascinating as the outcome of this study will hopefully enable potential new treatments for paediatrics and adults experiencing intestinal disease.

Luminita Puta (Research Nurse)

While working as an endoscopy nurse a few years back, I met one of the research nurses who was conducting a study in Endoscopy at the time. My curiosity made me ask questions about research and different projects in clinical trials and apply for a job in Gastroenterology and Hepatology Clinical Trials. I worked in clinical trials mainly with IBD patients and I realised the complexity of these diseases and how little I knew about it. I then started working as an IBD nurse specialist where I learnt a lot about IBD and the people living with these chronic diseases. In 2017 an opportunity arose to work for Oxford University and now I am back in the interesting and fascinating world of research working on non-interventional cohort studies. Currently I completed a "Research Methods" module at Birmingham University in order to gain more knowledge and further develop my research skills.

Janette Miah (Research Nurse)

"When a person decides to become a nurse, they make the most important decision of their lives. They choose to dedicate themselves to the care of others". And this is exactly what happened to me. To begin I was considering between being a lawyer or a doctor but somehow things have changed and I became a Nurse instead. I knew I'd be a good nurse, but I wanted to be more than that. I wanted to be a nurse who could make a change in a community; one who could improve the lives of a patients through quality, compassion and culturally centred patient care. My name is Janette and I have been a nurse for 26 years, having worked in almost all specialised areas of care. My background lies in Adult Nursing, specialising in Respiratory, Medical and Surgical. What made me decided to work as a Research Nurse is the uniqueness of its approach to different people, its key role as a patient advocate whilst ensuring patient safety and protection and making sure that patients are well supported throughout the research study. During my experience in Endoscopy, I met a lot of people in the field of Research Nursing and they seemed to really love their job. This then inspired me to become a research nurse and gain further skills. Working as a research nurse has taught me that it not just about collecting samples, it requires knowledge and understanding of patients care and it enables me to feel that I have giving holistic patient centred care. It needs a wide range of skills including management and organisational skills, teaching, mentoring, communication and IT. And being independent in making decisions and is vital. And I like that.

 Elenita Relucio ( Research Nurse)

     Following my retirement I decided to stay involved with the team and support their work when needed. My extensive experience as an endoscopy nurse and working as a research nurse for the last 4 years, has helped me gain skills and knowledge that add to the team's skill mix.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Dana Relucio  ( Research Practitioner)

  I have been working in admin in the NHS for 6 years and have experienced different interactions with patients. I have gained transferable skills which I now apply to my new job as a research practitioner. During the last 6 months, I am now fully trained in providing study information to patients, patient recruitment, consenting, processing and managing clinical research data. Working within a research team has inspired me to gain more knowledge and experience about  Immunology and Inflammatory disease with the hope to manage a research study in the future.