Congratulations to the 2022 mentees for the Communication with the Public Mentorship scheme, Dr Paula Byrne, Dr Jenny McSharry and Ms. Sallyanne Duncan. Read more about the scheme, which will open again in 2023 here.
Dr. Paula Byrne is a postdoctoral researcher with Evidence Synthesis Ireland & HRB-TMRN at NUI Galway. Her work focuses on evidence synthesis, scientific uncertainty and how health ‘facts’ and ‘misinformation’ are defined and dealt with. Previously, Paula worked with the Health Technology Assessment Directorate within HIQA. She produced rapid reviews on a wide range of scientific topics to inform the NPHET during Covid-19. Her PhD focused on the use of statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Paula will write about her 2022 review: “Evaluating the Association Between Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Reduction and Relative and Absolute Effects of Statin Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med“.
Dr. Jenny Mc Sharry is a chartered Health Psychologist and lecturer in the School of Psychology at NUI Galway. Jenny is Assistant Director of the Health Behaviour Change Research Group at NUI Galway, an international centre of excellence in health behaviour change intervention development, evaluation and implementation. She has over ten years of experience conducting systematic reviews and teaching evidence synthesis methods. From 2019-2021, Jenny was an ESI Fellow working on a scoping review with Dr Andrea Tricco. Jenny will write for the public to communicate the importance for members of the public to question the source of the evidence they are presented with and to critically reflect on what to believe.
Ms. Sallyanne Duncan is a lead speech and language therapist in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust with 20 years clinical experience working with adults presenting with swallowing and communication impairments across a variety of acute medical, post-surgical, respiratory and critical care settings. Her PhD focused on developing a dysphagia intervention and core outcome set to inform a feasibility trial for intensive care patients presenting with dysphagia following prolonged intubation. She will write about a systematic review of interventions for oropharyngeal dysphagia in acute and critical care that she completed to inform intervention development and published in Intensive Care Medicine in 2020.
