Ms Tiffany E Gooden BSc, MPH

• PhD in Applied Health Research 2023 (expected). Thesis title: Epidemiology and integrated care of HIV and associated comorbidities
• MPH International 2016. Dissertation title: Efficacy and safety of tuberculosis vaccine candidates in late phase clinical trials
• BSc in Psychology 2013. Dissertation title: Understanding the role of positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms in spiteful behaviour

Tiffany completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2013. During this time, she worked as a part-time research assistant in the TRiCAM Laboratory in the Department of Psychology (i.e. Translational Research in Cognitive and Affective Mechanisms) on projects aiming to understand the decision-making processes of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. After graduating, Tiffany travelled solo through various African and Southeast Asian countries, visiting both rural and urban areas, and immersing herself in the local cultures. From her travels, she decided to pursue a career in global health with a focus on infectious diseases – though she still has strong interest in mental health.

In 2016, Tiffany completed her Master’s in International Public Health from the University of Birmingham. She then worked as a senior research associate for Picker, a non-profit focused on person-centred care. There she led national studies aimed to identify gaps and areas of concern for mental health, emergency, inpatient, maternal and cancer care in the UK. She worked closely with the NHS, CQC and expert advisory groups to ensure the research was sound and impactful.

Alongside her job at Picker, Tiffany began working for the University of Birmingham on a casual contract in 2018; she worked with Dr Semira Manaseki-Holland on various maternal and child health research projects in LMICs. Tiffany joined the University in 2020 as a full-time research fellow, working with the Brazilian and Sri Lankan partners on the NIHR Global AF Group with Prof G Neil Thomas (Co-PI) among many others at the University. This work includes various epidemiology and health systems projects. Tiffany is the NIHR training lead for the group; thus, she ensures the country teams have the training and resources they need for building local research capacity and takes part in regular NIHR training sessions and is a member of various NIHR training working groups. Tiffany is also working on the qualitative component of the OPTIMAL project with Prof Krishnarajah Nirantharakumar (Co-PI) and Prof Sheila Greenfield. Additionally, she holds a researcher role within the Critical Care Asia and Africa (CCAA) network which involves the coordination of new and existing PhD students from LMICs to help with the development and planning of their research projects.

Tiffany is in her 2^nd year of her PhD which is focused on epidemiology and integrated care of HIV-associated comorbidities. Successful completion of the first two chapters have resulted in publications in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and The Lancet HIV and a presentation at the 2021 International AIDS Society conference. She is in the process of organising a large qualitative project in Mozambique to identify current clinical knowledge and practice for people living with HIV and comorbidities along with understanding care pathway gaps, patient preferences and opportunities for integrated care.

• Public Health and Epidemiology small group undergraduate teaching MBChB

Research interests

Infectious disease care and management in low- and middle-income countries, health systems, epidemiology, global health and social determinants of health

Current projects

Global AF Reach

• Working with researchers and clinicians in Brazil and Sri Lanka on various epidemiological and health systems projects related to atrial fibrillation care and management.

OPTIMAL

• Mainly working on the qualitative component (work package 3) involving the interviews of healthcare professionals and patients with complex multimorbidity to ascertain their perspective on artificial intelligence based clinical decision-making tools

CCAA

• Working within Critical Care Asia and Africa as a researcher to coordinate the work carried out by various PhD students from LMICs and to help them develop and plan their projects.

HIV-associated Comorbidities (PhD-related work)

• Conducting various epidemiology projects to better understand the prevalence and risk of comorbidities in people living with HIV. Also conducting a large qualitative project to determine the current care system of people living with HIV and hypertension or diabetes in Mozambique.

• Mentor at In2Science
• IAS (international AIDS society) member
• Volunteer at Oxford Mutual Aid