Susara Blunden joins the ORI team

Susara Blunden

Susara Blunden

We are delighted to welcome Susara as the new trial manager for the CLEAT study, a randomised controlled trial comparing standard care physiotherapy, to an 8-week intervention of cycling and education, for people with hip osteoarthritis.

Susura graduated in 2014 with a BSc (Hons) in Midwifery from Bournemouth University (BU) and subsequently worked clinically as a midwife at St Mary’s Maternity Hospital in Poole, part of the University Hospital Dorset (UHD) NHS Foundation Trust.

Susara was awarded a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)/Health Education England integrated Clinical Academic Internship, in conjunction with BU and UHD. She later became a specialist Research Midwife working on numerous NIHR portfolio adopted studies, helping to integrate research findings into practice to enhance patient choice and care. Susara has previously been a principal investigator on a number of national maternity studies and is studying for an MRes in Clinical and Health Research.

Susara at her first CHAIN session

Susara at her first CHAIN session

Susara said: “I am very much looking forward to working with ORI and continuing the close working relationship between UHD and BU, which directly benefits the local community, health professionals and the university, post pandemic”

Deputy Head of ORI, Professor Tom Wainwright said: “We are delighted to welcome Susara to ORI. She brings a wealth of trial related and managerial experience to the role, and already feels very much part of the team. I am excited to work with her and look forward to helping her recruit lots of patients for the CLEAT study!”

Please visit the CLEAT website to find out more about the study.