Dr Marie Falahee BSc PhD CPsychol

Marie Falahee

Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
Lecturer in Behavioural Rheumatology

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 371 7891
Email
m.falahee@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@DrMarieFalahee
View my research portal
Address
Rheumatology Research Group
Institute of Inflammation and Ageing (IIA)
University of Birmingham
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Birmingham B15 2WB
United Knigdom

Patient perceptions are key predictors of clinical outcomes and health behaviours, and a central focus of Dr Falahee’s research is on understanding the perspectives of individuals with, or at risk of musculoskeletal disorders and the development of psychological and/or educational interventions to improve clinical outcomes or enhance shared decision making.

There is an increasing research interest in the development of predictive biomarkers and preventive strategies for rheumatoid arthritis, and Dr Falahee has a particular interest in the measurement of patient preferences in this context, in order to facilitate the efficient translation of this work and to inform the design of future clinical services that are effective and acceptable to patients and other stakeholders. She is also involved in the development of international evidence-based recommendations on the methodologies used to integrate patient preferences into decision making throughout the lifecycle of medical products as a partner in the European Union Innovative Medicines Initiative funded consortium PREFER.

Dr Falahee is passionate about patient and public involvement in research and as academic coordinator of the Birmingham Rheumatology Research Patient Partnership (R2P2): she facilitates patient involvement across the Rheumatology Research Group, ensuring that our research is informed by patients’ needs, experiences and expectations and is sharply focussed on public benefit.

Qualifications

 Lecturer in Behavioural Rheumatology:

  • Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society 2017
  • PhD School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, 1997
  • BSc (Hons) Class 1. School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, 1992

Biography

2017 - Lecturer, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham

2014- Post-doctoral Researcher, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham

2000 - Career Break

1997 - Lecturer in Psychology, Aston University

1995 - Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham

1992 - PhD School of Psychology, University of Birmingham

1989 - BSc University of Birmingham

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Falahee supervises doctoral students in areas related to her research interests and welcomes enquiries from self-funded PhD students with a background in behavioural / social science or medicine who have an interest in behavioural rheumatology. Dr Falahee is currently co-supervising an Arthritis Research UK funded PhD student (Imogen Wells) examining stakeholder perspectives on preventive approaches to rheumatoid arthritis

Research

Dr Falahee is interested in the application of behavioural science to improve outcomes for those affected by musculoskeletal disorders. Specific areas of interest include:

  • Developing programmes to facilitate the implementation of preventive treatments for individuals at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis
  • Enhancing understanding of patient decision making about treatments or investigation strategies for inflammatory arthritis
  • Enhancing understanding of outcomes that are relevant to patients with inflammatory arthritis
  • Developing approaches to reduce delays in access to care/treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Other activities

  • Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society
  • Allied Health Professional Member of the British Society for Rheumatology
  • Member of the United Kingdom Society for Behavioural Medicine
  • Member of the EULAR Study Group for Risk Factors for RA
  • Member of the EULAR PARE Study Group for Collaborative Research

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Wells, I, Zemedikun, D, Simons, G, Stack, R, Mallen, CD, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2023, 'Predictors of the likelihood that patients with rheumatoid arthritis will communicate information about rheumatoid arthritis risk to relatives: a quantitative assessment.', Patient Education and Counseling.

Simons, G, Veldwijk, J, DiSantostefano, R, Englbrecht, M, Radawski, C, Karin, SB, Valor Mendez, L, Hauber, B, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2023, 'Preferences for preventive treatments for rheumatoid arthritis: discrete choice survey in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Romania', Rheumatology, vol. 62, no. 2, keac397, pp. 596–605. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keac397

Wells, I, Simons, G, Davenport, C, Mallen, CD, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Acceptability of predictive testing for ischemic heart disease in those with a family history and the impact of results on behavioural intention and behaviour change: a systematic review', BMC Public Health, vol. 22, no. 1, 1751. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14116-6

Simons, G, Janssen, E, Veldwijk, J, DiSantostefano, RL, Englbrecht, M, Radawski, C, valor-mendez, L, Humphreys, J, Bruce, IN, Hauber, B, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Acceptable risks of treatments to prevent rheumatoid arthritis amongst first-degree relatives: demographic and psychological predictors of risk tolerances', RMD Open, vol. 8, no. 2, e002593. https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002593

Thomas, M, Marshall, DA, Loyola Sanchez, A, Bartlett, SJ, Boonen, A, Fraenkel, L, Proulx, L, Voshaar, M, Bansback, N, Buchbinder, R, Guillemin, F, Hiligsmann, M, Richards, DP, Richards, P, Shea, B, Tugwell, P, Falahee, M & Hazlewood, GS 2022, 'Exploring perceptions of using preference elicitation methods to inform clinical trial design in rheumatology: a qualitative study and OMERACT collaboration', Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism, vol. 58, 152112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2022.152112

Simons, G, Karin, SB, Englbrecht, M, Johansson, EC, DiSantostefano, RL, Radawski, C, Veldwijk, J, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Exploring preferences of at-risk individuals for preventive treatments for rheumatoid arthritis', Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/03009742.2022.2116805

Bunnewell, S, Wells, I, Zemedikun, D, Simons, G, Mallen, CD, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Predictors of perceived risk in first-degree relatives of patients with rheumatoid arthritis', RMD Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002606

Grauman, Å, Viberg-Johansson, J, Falahee, M & Veldwijk, J 2022, 'Public perceptions of myocardial infarction: do illness perceptions predict preferences for health check results', Preventive Medicine Reports, vol. 26, 101683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101683

Singhal, J, Wells, I, Simons, G, Wöhlke, S, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Public perceptions of predictive testing for rheumatoid arthritis compared to breast cancer and early-onset alzheimer’s disease: a qualitative study', BMC Rheumatology, vol. 6, no. 1, 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41927-021-00244-w

Simons, G, Caplan, J, DiSantostefano, R, Veldwijk, J, Englbrecht, M, Karin, SB, Kihlbom, U, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Systematic review of quantitative preference studies of treatments for rheumatoid arthritis among patients and at risk populations', Arthritis Research & Therapy, vol. 24, 55. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-021-02707-4

Van Boheemen, L, ter Wee, MM, Falahee, M, Filer, A, van Beers-Tas, MH, Finckh, A, Hensvold, A, Raza, K & van Schaardenburg, D 2022, 'The Symptoms in Persons At Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis (SPARRA) questionnaire: predicting clinical arthritis development', Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1080/03009742.2022.2116806

Simons, G, Ismail, N, Sandhu, K, Mallen, CD, Stack, R, Pontefract, S, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'The potential role of community pharmacy staff in reducing patient delay in consulting with symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative study', BMC Rheumatology, vol. 6, no. 1, 50. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41927-022-00280-0

Zemedikun, D, Chandan, J, Raindi, D, Dhirajlal Rajgor, A, Gokhale, K, Thomas, T, Falahee, M, De Pablo, P, Lord, J, Raza, K & Nirantharakumar, K 2021, 'Burden of chronic diseases associated with periodontal diseases: a retrospective cohort study using UK primary care data', BMJ open, vol. 11, no. 12, e048296. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-048296

Editorial

Simons, G & Falahee, M 2022, 'Fear of the unknown: can we help individuals with a systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease deal with uncertainty?', The Journal of Rheumatology, vol. 49, no. 6, 220502, pp. 977-979. https://doi.org/10.3899/jrheum.220502

Review article

Falahee, M & Raza, K 2022, 'Perspectives of at-risk individuals on preventive intervention for rheumatoid arthritis: a mini review', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 13, 883287, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.883287

View all publications in research portal