Meet the Advisory Team
We are an interdisciplinary team who are passionate about promoting a better understanding of the complexities that surround organ donation and transplantation pathway. So much focus is on the donation aspect that we wanted to offer a more holistic view of the whole organ donation and transplant pathway to help everyone understand the intricate and highly co-ordinated processes that are involved. By learning collaboratively with students we want to uncover all these processes that works towards increasing the availability of organs for transplantation. We offer opportunities for university students from diverse degrees and ethnic backgrounds to join in the conversation about what organ donation and transplantation mean to them.
Simonne Weeks
Director
Director of Donor Research Project and Senior Biomedical Scientist who has worked for the NHS pathology over 20 years and in her role as Clinical Governance Manager has experienced the complexities that are associated with clinical care pathways especially for tissue and blood compatibility. She is a Senior Lecturer, lecturing in all topics on Biomedical Science especially on topics such as Transfusion Medicine and Transplantation at University of Brighton.
Read more about Simonne here: Simonne Weeks
Joey Fanstone
Student Researcher
Joey graduated from the University of Brighton BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science and is now a medical student at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. He helps to co-ordinate the Event Champion training and offers them the opportunity to do school outreach in partnership with the University of Brighton’s widening participation team.
Connor Thompson
Pharmacy Education Advisor
Senior Lecturer in Medicines Use at the University of Brighton and Specialist Hepatology Pharmacist at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. Connor previously worked at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for many years where he qualified as a prescribing pharmacist to support liver transplant, hepatobiliary, and viral hepatology services. As a pharmacist, his research interests include medicines optimisation, adherence, and improving patient pathways through healthcare settings.
Read more about Connor here: Connor Thompson
Dr Agimol Pradeep (BEM)
NHSBT Advisor and Transplant Co-Ordinator Nurse at Kings College
NHS London and campaigner for promoting organ and stem cell donation from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. Dr Pradeep’s research identified that awareness of the organ donation in the South Asian community in the UK was very low, and attitudes towards the register were influenced by common misconceptions. Therefore, building on these findings there is a need for education to increase knowledge and awareness about organ donation and to clarify these misconception
Yaning Wu
PhD student in blood donor health and behaviour at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Public Health and Primary Care. Funded by the NIHR and supervised by Dr Lois Kim, she is using world-first trial data to develop national strategies to make blood donation even more safe. Yaning joined Donor Research in 2023 to learn from interdisciplinary students, scientists, and clinicians and to support pioneering work to address health inequities impacting long-underserved communities.
Lesley McGregor
Research Consultant
Registered Health Psychologist based at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Her research interests focus mainly on health behaviour change in areas such as cancer screening, organ and blood donation, and organ transplantation. She uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand more about decision making, health communication and reducing health inequalities.
Read more about Lesley here: Lesley McGregor
Rebecca Craig
Health Courses Workshop Lead
As a Registered Nurse has worked in several acute care settings before moving to the University of Brighton to become a Senior Lecturer in Nursing. She is interested in the issues surrounding blood and organ donation working in Accident and Emergency and Operating Theatre departments.
Lee Shepherd
Research Consultant
A psychological researcher that specialises on the role of emotions on behaviours. He has undertaken research assessing the role of emotional factors in deterring and promoting health behaviours. This includes assessing the role of emotions in influencing organ donor registration and next-of-kin approval of organ donation.
Read more about Lee here: Lee Shepherd
Dr Britzer Vincent Paul Raj
Research Consultant
Completed a PhD titled Socio-Ecological Perspective on Deceased Organ Donation from Two Diverse Regions in India. He has worked as a Physician Assistant Observer for the Department of Cardiology and Physician Assistant and Research Officer for Department of Hepatology and Liver Transplantation in.
Charlotte Humphris
Runs organ donation workshops for Nursing Associates and Registered Nurse and joined Brighton University as a Lecturer in the School of Health. The majority of her 20-year NHS career has been in post-operative Intensive Care and the latter years in the Emergency Department. She also spent time as an NHSBT, Specialist Nurse in Organ Donation (SNOD) in London where her knowledge of organ donation increased and a desire to find out more about the different perspectives of the subject. As a SNOD, Charlotte had many discussions with NHS colleagues, and the public and became aware of the misconceptions that many held regarding organ donation especially from the ethnic minority, Black and Asian communities.
Read more about Charlotte here: Charlotte Humphris