Professor Helen Lester
University of Birmingham
Former Chief Investigator
Helen was the original developer of the PARTNERS2 programme, until she sadly passed away in 2013. She was very passionate about the PARTNERS Service, and did everything she could to ensure the study would continue after her passing. She is greatly missed by those who knew her, and we hope that we can work together to create a legacy that she can be proud of.
Professor Max Birchwood
University of Warwick
Chief Investigator
Max was a co-applicant on PARTNERS2 when the study began, and took on the role of Chief Investigator following the death of Prof Helen Lester in 2013. Initially following a career in Mathematics, Max qualified as a clinical psychologist, specializing in psychosis, obtaining PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Birmingham, where he later became professor. He has had a long career in the NHS in Birmingham and was clinical director of Youth Mental Health Services and director of Research and development for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust until 2013, then moving to the University of Warwick as Professor of Youth Mental Health.
Dr Krishma Jethwa
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust
Site Principal Investigator
Krishma joined the study team in 2016 as the Birmingham Site Clinical Lead. She works as a Consultant Psychiatrist as part of the Community Mental Health Team in Handsworth, a multicultural and diverse area in Birmingham. Her research interests include mental health law, service innovation and evaluation. Her clinical interests are in psychiatric rehabilitation in Autistic Spectrum Disorders. She is interested in the PARTNERS2 study because it incorporates a method for applying the recovery principles within a primary care setting and the opportunity to evaluate the effects of greater collaboration between primary care and secondary mental health services.
Dr Humera Plappert
University of Birmingham
Programme Manager
Meena is the PARTNERS2 programme manager. She joined the team during the study set up phase back in 2014 and has steered the whole programme through the development stages. After completing an MSc in Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Sheffield, Meena started a PhD in the department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Birmingham. She set up the Birmingham Prostatic Neoplasms Association Study (BiPAS) as part of her PhD, investigating the determinants of prostate cancer. She then went on to manage a large cohort study looking at bladder cancer recurrence and progression and has worked on a number of randomized controlled trials investigating hypertension, stroke prevention and more recently in mental health.
Bliss Gibbons
University of Birmingham
Research Associate
Bliss joined the PARTNERS2 team in March 2017, having completed an MSc in Medical Anthropology at Durham University in September 2016. She is working as a researcher, and will be in contact with participants across Birmingham and Solihull. She is very interested in mental health research, and focused her independent studies at university in Psychiatric Anthropology, and intends to continue her research in this field at PhD level after the completion of PARTNERS2. She has previous experience of supporting people with ongoing mental health needs from previous work and relationships with friends and family.
John Gibson
University of Birmingham and the McPin Foundation
Service User Researcher
John became involved with PARTNERS2 in August 2014 as a member of the newly-formed Birmingham LEAP, and joined the research team a year later as the Service User Researcher for the Birmingham site. After completing his undergraduate degree in History of Art at the University of Manchester, John continued his academic studies at the Courtauld Institute of Art. After completing his MA, he went on to serve as trustee and Chair of North Staffs Voice, a user-led organisation that works for improvements in mental health services. As someone who lives with a diagnosis of bipolar, John’s involvement with the Third Sector continues to this day as head of client and user engagement at North Staffs Mind. In PARTNERS2, John brings twenty years of experience to a role that emphasises the importance of personal experience of mental health problems in complementing clinical and academic approaches to mental health research.