Q and A with Anna Price – Senior Research Fellow

Posted by ma403

3 October 2023

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and research and/or career to this point?

I am a Senior Research Fellow in children and young people’s mental health, and my programme of research is co-located between the Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) and the Children and Young people’s Mental Health (ChYMe) research collaboration. My wider research focus is on equitable access to health and social care for people with mental health needs. I previously worked as a Trial Manager with the Exeter Clinical Trials Unit and a Research Fellow with the Exeter HSDR Evidence Synthesis Centre.

What are you aiming to do through your fellowship/new post, or what is your current research focus?

I currently hold a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded Three Research Schools Mental Health Career Development Fellowship. Through this I am Principal Investigator for the ‘Managing young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Primary care’ (MAP) study, mapping current practice in England, and co-producing guidance to improve access to healthcare for this underserved population. We work with a fabulous team of researchers, clinicians, and people with lived experience, and are fortunate to have the UK Adult ADHD Network, the ADHD Foundation, and Devon Partnership Trust as research partners. To learn more, please visit our website: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/mapadhd/

What are you looking forward to most in starting your fellowship/new post, or the next year of your research?

In the next year, we are excited to be sharing results from our online survey, and from interviews with patients and primary care professionals from five GP practices located across England. We will also be working with our study team to co-produce guidance on ways to improve access to primary healthcare for young people with ADHD.

I am excited to share that, alongside co-leads Tamsin Newlove-Delgado, and Abby Russell, we will be launching the website for the ‘Exeter Science of ADHD and Neurodevelopment’ (SAND) collaboration. This site, with logo, website, and informational videos, designed, developed and/or produced by people with lived experience of ADHD (and those working to support them) will provide a focus and hub for scientific research on ADHD conducted at the University of Exeter across health, education, and social care. For a preview, please visit: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/adhdresearch/

Tell us something about yourself that may be less well known.

I started my academic career later in life, having previously worked as a company director and home-schooled my children. As my children became more independent, I thought about what I wanted to do with my time and chose a career in psychology and mental health research. I really value working with research colleagues and those in need of/delivering services to collect and interpret evidence on current practice, then collaboratively develop and test potential solutions.