Folk.us About Us

Geoff has spent most of his life teaching government and politics at Exeter College, Exeter. After he left, he worked in the Politics Department at Exeter University. He is particularly interested in the politics of health. Geoff is currently a patient representative in his GPs' research practice. He now earns his living teaching social science for the Open University and is an Honorary University Fellow at the Peninsula Medical School.

Annie has been passionate about working in partnership with service users and carers, and promoting social justice ever since she trained as a clinical and community psychologist many years ago: and probably before that - as a northern lass brought up in a mining village, supporting one another in challenging traditional power hierarchies was part of the culture. Annie is Clinical Director for the Plymouth Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and works in an NHS service for people with kidney disease.

Andrew is a member of the Folk.us Executive Group. He also coordinates Devon Young Parkinson Network, is the Health and Social Services Liaison Officer of the Exeter Branch of the Parkinson's Disease Society and sits on Devon Primary Care Trust's Public and Patient Involvement Forum. Andrew is on the Local Implementation Groups for Devon Strategic Partnership and the Exeter area one, which is leading the Campaign for the Parkinson Disease Nurse specialist. He is the Mid Devon User Representative for Living Options Devon.

David Robinson was at the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool for 5 years after spending time in Nigeria and working as a Senior House Officer in general medicine. He joined the Public Health Laboratories Service, where he became a consultant epidemiologist, having gained an MD (in cholera) and an MSc in Community Medicine. He then joined the WHO (World Health Organisation) where he worked mainly in child health and health services in many countries out of Geneva. He left WHO in 1999 and worked freelance with a wide range of organisations. He is now a user of the British health and social services having sustained a severe head injury.

Katrina is a Senior Research Fellow in Child Health at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry and is the Grant-holder for Folk.us, this means she oversees our work. Katrina is committed to patient, service user and carer involvement in all aspects of research and all research designs and does not believe that there is a project or a design which would not be enhanced by such involvement. She has been instrumental in developing Folk.us training for staff and service users. For the last ten years she has been involved in a variety of health service research projects using a variety of research methods from systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials to longitudinal studies using qualitative research methods with negotiated feedback cycles to all participants. Folk.us Grant Holder Email: katrina.wyatt@pms.ac.uk

Rachel is the Folk.us Director with day to day responsibility for our work. In her role she involves service users, patients or/and carers in health and social care research to enable people to have a positive and meaningful impact on research and the structures and processes of research. Rachel has and does work with many people including people with learning difficulties, people who experienced mental distress, people with physical or sensory impairments and older people. She has run and presented workshops on User Involvement in Community Care and still delivers training on Disability Equality issues for a number of statutory and voluntary organizations. She also guest lecturer on Disability Equality issues for the three Universities. Rachel identifies herself as a disabled woman, service user and research fellow. Folk.us Coordinator Email: r.a.purtell@exeter.ac.uk

Wendy has come from the Institute of Primary Care and Public Health at London South Bank University, where she worked on a range of research projects within the 'lived experience' grouping. Most recently, she has worked closely with the British Library Sound Archive on projects with people with HIV, sex workers, homeless people and other 'marginalised' groups. She also undertook research projects for statutory agencies (eg a project on resistant and resilient smokers for Southwark PCT), voluntary sector agencies (eg Positively Women, Panos) and communities. She has taught health promotion/ public health and research methodology for many years to postgraduate level and has a PhD in Social Policy. Folk.us Research Fellow Email: W.Rickard@exeter.ac.uk

Abi is the part time Folk.us administrator. Her last job was with the University of Plymouth, based at Rolle College, Exmouth. She was a programmes administrator and looked after all the BA degree courses. Here, she will be a point of contact for all enquiries and will provide administrative support for the Folk.us office. Folk.us Administrator Email: A.E.McCullough@exeter.ac.uk