Clinical Team

Professor John Weinman is Professor of Psychology as applied to Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. He is recognised as one of the founders of modern health psychology and his main research areas are cognition and health, communication and decision-making in healthcare, and self-regulation and self-management in chronic illness.

Grant Taylor, MSc (Hons), PGDipClinPsych, FNZCCP is a registered clinical psychologist with a career spanning more than 30 years in clinical and health psychology practice with a wide range of patient groups and conditions. In his last position, he built and led national child helpline 0800WHATSUP in New Zealand and chaired an international taskforce on child advocacy for the Amsterdam-based NGO Child Helpline International.

Professor Keith Petrie has been a key figure in developing the field of health psychology field internationally. His primary research focus involves how patients construct beliefs about their illness or injury and how these influence coping and recovery. Professor Petrie and his research group are known internationally for constructing new methods for measuring patients’ perceptions of illness and developing early intervention programmes designed to change patients’ illness perceptions and improve adherence to medication and rehabilitation.

Kate (MSc in Health Psychology, PsychD in Clinical Psychology) has over 10 years’ experience working within the healthcare sector, both in a research and clinical capacity internationally. She is the lead investigator in the AsthmaAIM Study and has extensive experience in the application of health psychology.

Dr María Fortún (MSc, PhD) is a psychologist with a PhD and MSc in Health Psychology from Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). She leads the clinical team in the Spanish office, informing new business development and designing Atlantis behaviour change programmes. Maria has worked for the last 8 years as a researcher and clinical in health psychology across different chronic conditions. Marias´s research specializes in essential hypertension, studying the main psychological cardiovascular risk factors related and developing a stress management program for hypertensive patients. She is interested in the study of personal beliefs and feelings involved in chronic conditions and their role in adherence and in the course of the disease.

Prior to joining Atlantis Healthcare (AH) Rachel Davis, BSc, MSc, PhD worked as a health psychology research associate leading the research on patient and public involvement at the Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality, Imperial College London. 

Specialist interests: patients' perspectives of quality and safety in healthcare, patient involvement, theories of behaviour change, health promotion interventions.

Roseanna holds an MSc in Health Psychology from King's College London and is working towards a Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. In addition to her work on adherence at Atlantis Healthcare, she works in an acute stroke unit. Amongst her research interests are the influence of partner/caregiver beliefs and co-morbid physical illness on patient coping and adjustment.

Christina Jackson (BA(Hons), MSc) has a masters degree in Health Psychology (King’s College London) and has recently submitted her doctoral thesis (School of Pharmacy, University London).  Her thesis included development of an online programme that successfully reduced concerns about medicines for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  Previously, Christina worked on adherence-related projects at the Centre for Behavioural Medicine (School of Pharmacy).    Christina’s research interests are in adherence and self-management, online methodologies, intervention development and evaluation.

Lindy recently completed her MSc in Health Psychology from University College London. Her research interests include the long-term impact of coping with chronic conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis and the use of qualitative methodology. She has also contributed to projects investigating adult obesity in the UK and has helped develop peer-support programmes. 

Judith assists with programme implementation and delivers psychological support and treatment (CBT) to enrolled patients. She works closely with the clinical team and the contact centre. Prior to working for Atlantis Healthcare, Judith completed her clinical training at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. Judith has a special interest in health psychology and has undertaken her research project in the area of chronic pain, looking at resilience and positive growth.

Arden Corter, MSc (Hons) has spent the last 10 years working in research with government, non-government and private sector organizations in New Zealand and Canada. Her project work spans the health, social development, police, and education sectors and she has worked on projects related to programme evaluation, research reviews, large-scale survey-based research, and development of healthcare guidelines. Arden is particularly interested in developing support for patients with chronic illness and is currently driving Atlantis OncologyAIM programme as part of her PhD research at the University of Auckland, while applying her skills more broadly within Atlantis? clinical team.

John’s background is in social and health psychology.  Prior to working at Atlantis Healthcare, John worked as a Research Associate within the health psychology unit of the Psychology Department at University College London.  His research interests focus upon understanding and changing patient behaviour to improve health outcomes, and health professional behaviour to improve patient care.

Francesca completed her MSc in Health Psychology at the University of Auckland and she is currently undertaking a PhD in Health Psychology. She has a broad interest in the psychosocial aspects of chronic disease and in conducting research that will result in the design of interventions or patient support programs to optimise patient health outcomes.

After completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Loughborough University Sumaira gained a Masters in Psychological Research Methods and a PhD in Applied Psychology from the University of Nottingham. Her doctoral thesis explored the role of online communities for people experiencing infertility. Sumaira has previously worked as a Research Associate at the University of Nottingham and the University of Cambridge.  Sumaira specialises in qualitative research techniques and is especially interested in patient experience. Her particular research interests lie in the area of online support, health and illness behaviours, the management of chronic illness and workplace wellness.

Dr Savita Bakhshi graduated with a BSc (Hons) Psychology from the University of Reading, followed by an MSc Health Psychology from University College London and King’s College London, and a PhD in Health and Social Psychology from London Metropolitan University. Savita previously worked as a Research Fellow at London Metropolitan University, and has extensive experience of working on a range of quantitative and qualitative research projects in different settings. She is currently involved in a number of programmes being developed by the Clinical team at Atlantis Healthcare.

Clare recently graduated from Thames Valley University where she completed her MSc in Health Psychology and has worked on research projects looking at health related behaviour change, illness perceptions and telecare and telehealth, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Particular research interests include theories of behaviour change, adherence and the link between emotions and health.