Lisa Ballantine York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Lisa has been involved in health promotion research for over a decade and has been involved in several research projects, collaborating with organisations like Swim England alongside lecturing in Sport and Exercise Science at Colleges and Higher Education Institutions. In 2020, Lisa joined the NHS to continue her research career further, securing a role as a Research Grant Writer collaborating with academic colleagues and NHS teams across the country.

Alongside her grant writing role, York born, Lisa has a vested interest in North Yorkshire, a geographical area served by York and Scarborough Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust that is urban, rural and coastal, exhibiting distinct health disparities between the 2 acute hospital sites. To address the modest research activity in Scarborough, a small research project gained investment from Clinical Research Network and the Trust to develop and grow a Multiple Long Term Conditions Research Hub in Spring 2022, following 2 strategic research areas of focus from the Department for Health. The short-term investment meant that the hub had begun to develop Scarborough’s research portfolio but required further funding and redirection to align with CMO Report focusing on Coastal Communities published in Summer 2021.

A refreshed project required involvement from all sectors and organisations at all levels to develop a sustainable research collaborative. Lisa’s success in awarded grants ensured she would be successful in funding her own time to Project Manage Scarborough Coastal Health and Care Research Collaborative (SHARC) which aims to better address the health and care needs of our coastal populations through high quality collaborative research with community involvement. Connecting with our coastal communities through SeeCHANGE’s Bex Blakey was the first step to communicating with the local population who are the experts of their own personal health experiences and who will give us the opportunity to help tackle the complex issues that affect them.

Lisa uses her expertise in health promotion research that may provide clues as to current patterns of health and disease, recognising that both past and present experiences are shaped by the wider social, economic and cultural context. SHARC has a renewed lens and is in a unique position in which it can gather the local population and apply research to the population it serves.

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