A bit of background

Health and wellbeing has always been a lifelong interest for me (Steph). One of my earliest memories was being in a local community hospital (which was run by the local Nuns), watching my dad have the fluid drained from his knee. I’ve always been fascinated by science and biology, and with having a Radiographer for a mom, I was perfectly placed to go into healthcare.

I didn’t quite think it would end up like this though…

After mom became ill in my teenage years and I took on the role of carer and chief-in-charge of our house, I decided to study psychology at the University of Derby to be close to home. Little did I know I would stay here for 9 years, studying for a BSc, MSc and a PhD. I felt so at home I had my first lectureship here.

My next (big) jump was to move to a Research Associate role at Imperial College London within the NIHR funded Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (as it was then). After being at a more teaching intensive university for the start of my career, Imperial was global, fast paced and high impact. I loved it.

As with many people in academia, along came a baby (Lorcán), and I wanted to be working closer to our home in Cambridge. I started in Cambridge’s Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and eventually joined the CanRisk team, looking at how to design, develop and implement a breast cancer risk prediction tool.

And the rest, they say, is history…

I loved working with the multidisciplinary team, and I found a lot of joy learning about the world of clinical cancer genetics. Within the Canrisk co-investigators I had a great set of mentors who were kind, compassionate and supported me to reach my potential at every step. I had the opportunity to to grow and finally started to flourish.

I joined the Department of Psychology as a part-time Assistant Professor after my second baby (Oisín) came along, and I was eventually made a full-time permamnet Associate Professor in September 2024. From there, the Health and Wellbeing Group was started, with Tom and Reanna being the first to join the crew.

We’re now a thriving core group of 10 and we’re going from strength to strength. Watch this space…