We say farewell to Alison

We pay tribute to our Head of Research and Development who has helped us 'punch above our weight'

We see our Head of Research and Development Alison Thompson leave this month with a feeling of both personal and professional loss.

She has overseen a huge growth in research output, administered funds worth millions of pounds, brought in partnerships with universities and many other prestigious institutions, and involved a wide range of service users, staff and carers in our work.

As Trust Medical Director Chris Hosker says: “We are now widely recognised as punching above our weight when compared with other research-active Trusts and I have been proud to see how the department has flexed over recent challenging times to contribute to the national Covid vaccination effort.

“Alison has been a great advocate for research and has really opened my eyes to the fantastic work that the department produces and its future potential. I am sure I can speak for all of us in saying that Alison will be truly missed but we also all wish her all the very best in her next ventures.”

A chemist by background, Alison brought business expertise to ensuring the Trust’s research runs smoothly: this means the Trust is known for strengths, among others, in Child and Adult Mental Health, liaison psychiatry, and dementia work.

She has built excellent relationships with our local universities and other NHS trusts, local government organisations, and schools, and the Trust as a whole has seen a steady increase in clinical research activity over the 12 years in which she has run the department.

Just last year the Trust was the lead organisation for seven significant grant funded studies including ‘FReSH START’, the first programme funded by NIHR to look at repeated self-harm in adults. It will feature the largest clinical trial on this topic anywhere in the world.

Again in 2019/20, the Trust was involved in altogether 73 research studies, including five Covid-related studies, across 13 clinical areas in mental health and learning disabilities.

Professor Barry Wright, LYPFT CAMHS consultant, added: “With her leadership and support the Trust has seen relentless improvements in research demonstrated by more and more high quality research across the age ranges.

“In my field Alison has supported our child mental health research programme (COMIC) to go from strength to strength with the Trust currently leading on three large multi-centre randomised controlled trials all of which come to a conclusion this year.

“The Trust will continue to seek further innovation and excellence in care for those we support and Alison has set the foundations for us to achieve that going forward. I wish her a fruitful and enjoyable retirement.”

Our work also includes research by Professor Wright on improving diagnostic accuracy for autism spectrum disorder assessments in deaf children/young people.

Associate Professor Max Henderson, LYPFT Liaison psychiatry consultant and clinical lead for research and development, said: “I am personally sorry to see Alison go but delighted for her. She has earned a rest!

“I have only worked with Alison for w relatively short period of time but in the months before Covid I was quickly able to appreciate Alison’s grasp of the field, the impressive way in which she managed both her team and the big beasts out in the research world, and how the deaprtment was clearly growing.”

  • We welcome on board as Alison’s successor Sarah Cooper, who joins us from the National Institute for Health Research. She says: “Alison has left a great foundation. I hope to build on that and maximise the growing interest in mental health and bring experience in research, national and commercial contacts to the Trust. It’s an exciting time.”