Who we are

Background

Ben Marlow is a Paediatric Consultant with an interest in neurodevelopment having completed his special interest (SPIN) training in neurodisability at Cambridge and Luton. He joined the team at Colchester General Hospital, Essex, in 2019. He is Research lead and neurodisability lead for the department and head of the East of England Research Group for Community Paediatrics.

Ben has worked in the NHS for nearly 10 years having completed his medical training at University College London (UCL). Prior to his role as a doctor, he completed a Masters in Biochemistry and worked for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and UCB Pharma in Research and Development. He also completed a research fellowship at the University of Florida.

Research Interests

He has a keen interest in the neurobiology of neurodevelopmental disorders, especially the fields of neuroimmunology and metabolism. He is very keen to help advocate and advance the translation of science into treatments for children with neurodisabling conditions, particularly within the field of Autism. At the beginning of 2020 he was awarded the Gupta Foundation Young Researcher Award and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) local research network principal investigator support funding.

Ben also has a keen interest in teaching and has completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Medical Education (PGCME).

Memberships and Editorial Boards

Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, British Association of Childhood Disability (BACD) and British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA).

Ben is a regular writer for the publication ‘Autism Eye’.

Frances Farnworth is an established research management leader with a range of strategic and operational skills. With well-developed skills in process and project management and extensive experience in the management and governance of research. Since the creation of ESNEFT in July 2018, Frances has successfully led the integration of Ipswich and Colchester hospital research teams.

Beginning her career in industry Frances joined the NHS in 2001. In early 2009 Frances took on the role of Clinical Research Network (CRN) Research Manager for Suffolk and Norfolk, implementing the approval system for faster set up times for NHS research approval. Since 2011 Frances has led the research office at the Trust, her focus is to bring opportunities and a balanced portfolio of research, to improve patient care for the population that ESNEFT serves. She is committed to the ESNEFT philosophy that TIME MATTERS, by improving processes through the reduction of waste and unnecessary systems.

Katharine joined ESNEFT in 2019 as a Research and Grant Co-ordinator for ESNEFT. Katharine has a PhD in Clinical Exercise Physiology, which focusing on preoperative exercise training in cancer and vascular surgical patients. Her research experience has been diverse, from military research projects to clinical projects covering; nutrition, immunology, heat illness, sleep deprivation and prehabilitation. Her research interests include; perioperative optimisation and behaviour change.

Current Grants:

Co-Investigator for a NIHR HTA Grant; Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of INSPIRatory musclE training (IMT) for reducing postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC): a sham-controlled randomised controlled trial (RCT) (INSPIRE)

Steph Marlow is a Research Grants Facilitator for ESNEFT. She joined the Research and Development team at ESNEFT at the end of 2019. Before this Steph worked as a veterinarian and completed a PhD in veterinary cancer epidemiology. She also taught on a veterinary nursing degree program at the University of Hertfordshire for the module on Research Methods.

Her research areas of interest include epidemiology of neurodevelopmental conditions and data recording for children with complex neurodisabilities. She also wishes to promote patient public involvement within this field and establish support and discussion groups for parents and carers of those with a severe disability.

Dr Manal Issa is a Consultant Paediatrician with special interest in neurodisability and epilepsy. She also works with children with neurodevelopmental or neurobehavioural disorders.

Dr Issa joined the paediatric team at Colchester in 2021 having held previous consultant appointments at Northampton General Hospital where she was the lead for the neuromuscular and Botulinum injection clinics. In West Suffolk Foundation Trust she was the lead for the movement disorder clinic . 

Dr Issa’a post-graduate training was in the East of England Deanery and she completed her SPIN neurology training in Addenbrookes and GOSH.

Paediatrician at Colchester Hospital, Sub-specialty interests in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, lead for Paediatric sleep medicine, ESNEFT 

Background

Jo-Anne completed her MBChB at the University of Leeds, UK (1996-2001), UK  and was awarded her MRCPCH in June 2006. She completed a Wellcome Trust-funded PhD in respiratory developmental biology at the University of Cambridge in 2018. Following this she secured a Senior Lecturer position at the School of Medicine, Anglia Ruskin University where she leads on Child and Family Health, as well as Embryology and Clinical Genetics. Clinically, she practices as a Paediatrician at Colchester Hospital where she is the lead for Paediatric Sleep Medicine.

Research Interests

Ciliogenesis

Stem cell fate decision-making

Transcriptional reprogramming

Ambulatory sleep studies in children

Cystic-fibrosis

In 2009 Jo-Anne was awarded a Research Fellowship in Translational Medicine from the Biomedical Research Centre, University of Cambridge. She worked with Professor Sir John Gurdon (winner of Nobel Prize in Medicine 2012) at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge on developing a technique for monitoring pluripotency gene transcription in real time during nuclear reprogramming.

Following this she secured a very highly competitive Clinical Research Training Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust and under the co-supervision of Professor Sir John Gurdon and Dr Emma Rawlins, focused on factors governing stem cell fate in airway epithelium.

Jo-Anne’s current research focuses on ways of optimising and standardising the way obstructive sleep apnoea is diagnosed in children in the ambulatory setting.

Memberships and Editorial Boards

Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Selected Recent Publications

• Johnson JA, Watson JK, Nikolić MZ, Rawlins EL. Fank1 and Jazf1 promote multiciliated celldifferentiation in the mouse airway epithelium. Biol Open. 2018 Apr 16;7(4). pii: bio033944. doi: 10.1242/bio.033944.

• Marko Z. Nikolić, Oriol Caritg, Quitz Jeng, Jo-Anne Johnson, Dawei Sun, Kate J. Howell, Jane L. Brady, Usua Laresgoiti, George Allen, Matthias Zilbauer, Adam Giangreco, Emma L. Rawlins, Human embryonic lung epithelial tips are multipotent progenitors that can be expanded in vitro as long-term self-renewing organoids. ELife. 2017 Jun 30;6. pii: e26575. doi: 10.7554/eLife.26575.

• Correia LL, Johnson JA, McErlean P, Bauer J, Farah H, Rassl DM, Rintoul RC, Sethi T, Lavender P, Rawlins EL, Littlewood TD, Evan GI, McCaughan FM. SOX2 Drives Bronchial Dysplasia in a Novel Organotypic Model of Early Human Squamous Lung Cancer. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017 Feb 15.

• Balasooriya GI, Johnson JA, Basson MA, Rawlins EL. An FGFR1-SPRY2Signalling Axis Limits Basal Cell Proliferation in the Steady-State Airway Epithelium. Dev Cell. 2016 Apr 4;37(1):85-97

• Johnson JA, Bush A, Buchdahl R. Does presenting with meconium ileus affect the prognosis of children with cystic fibrosis? Pediatr Pulmonol. 2010 Oct;45(10):951-8.

Andrea is a Clinical Academic Research Practitioner working for the Synapse Centre at ESNEFT. Andrea is an HCPC registered Occupational Therapist with extensive NHS and private experience in paediatrics and learning disabilities. She is a certified Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner and has additional training in sensory attachment.

Andrea trained as an Occupational Therapist at the University of Essex and graduated in 2015. She has undertaken post-graduate courses with the University of Ulster and Sheffield Hallum University. Andrea is currently undertaking a post graduate research degree (MPhil) as a Senior Research Fellow with Anglia Ruskin University, within her current split clinical and research role.  

Andrea’s areas of interest include sensory processing and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Her aims are to promote and deliver research, evidence-based practice and education, to enable children to engage in the activities and experiences that are important to them.

Alix is a Clinical Academic Research Practitioner working for the synapse centre in the area of neurodevelopmental disability. She is working in a split research and clinical post alongside ARU completing an MPhil. She trained in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of East Anglia and graduated in 2014. Since then she has been working with a wide range of children both in the NHS and independent practice, working in both special needs and mainstream schools, with her most recent role focusing on Autism assessments at ESNEFT for children 2-19 years of age.

Her main interests are focused on early intervention in autism and parent child interaction / parent education. Her aims are to help parents feel empowered when working with their own children; they are the experts and should be made to feel this way. Through the research she is involved in, she hopes to continue utilising evidence based ways of practicing directly with children and supporting education settings to deliver and evaluate key intervention programmes to aid the development of communication skills across settings.

Caroline has been a registered nurse since 1991 and has worked in a range of health, social care and education settings supporting the needs of children and young people with a range of disabilities and complex health care needs. She is a BACP accredited counsellor and approved adoption counsellor.

She has been the Neurobehavioural Clinical Nurse Specialist for ESNEFT Community Paediatric Team since 2020 and is involved in the multi disciplinary assessment of children for ADHD and autism. She also runs a post autism diagnosis follow up service for school age children.

She has particular interest in mental health, adoption and fostering, and the impact of attachment difficulties and trauma . She understands the importance of timely and effective support for families/carers and is passionate about furthering evidenced based research on this area. She also has experience and interest in supporting children with palliative care needs/life limiting complex neurodevelopmental disorders and their families. 

She is keen to enhance the research into community based impact, assessment, intervention and reviewing of sleep difficulties for children with ASD and their families.

Her post graduate training includes counselling and psychotherapy, post graduate training at The Tavistock Centre for systemic work with families, attachment and trauma, and ADOS assessment. She is currently furthering her post graduate studies on a BPS accredited psychology course.