Dr Kiersten Simmons is a Medical Doctoral Fellow and Specialist Registrar (ST6) in HIV/GUM at UHSussex.
I have always been interested in the impact of research on improving clinical outcomes and population health, particularly for the most disadvantaged communities.
I have taken the opportunity to be involved in research projects throughout my career. After completing my specialty exams, I embarked on my PhD in February 2023, and felt very fortunate to be able to create and design a project that I am extremely passionate about.
Improving access to sexual health
My research focuses on improving access to sexual health and wellbeing research and care for midlife women in deprived coastal communities in East Sussex.
Creating equal opportunities for everybody to be involved in the healthcare research which affects them, and designing healthcare services which are accessible to everybody, are cornerstones of my work.
As a HIV/GUM physician, the importance of the patient’s ideas and expectations, and collaboration with multidisciplinary researchers and clinicians will always be at the forefront of my research.
Change is possible
I am grateful for the principles instilled in me at an early age by my Dad, including the importance of always taking up the cause of the most marginalised in society, making sustainability and equity core aims, and believing that change is possible if you are hard-working and enthusiastic.
Tutors at Cambridge University imparted a strong scientific and medical training, and my Foundation years gave me clinical confidence.
I was very lucky to work in Uganda and Zimbabwe, and was accepted by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a medical humanitarian charity, setting up an HIV test and treat service. I looked after children and adults who had been assaulted, often working in a climate of fear and political unrest.
I loved the clinical work but realised that high quality research (and effective dissemination and implementation), is essential to address health disparities.
This work also consolidated my interest in HIV/ GUM, an exciting specialty requiring a breadth of communication skills and ever-changing knowledge, which attracts such a wide range of interesting professionals.
I work with motivated and passionate colleagues in Brighton, in a multidisciplinary department with strong, influential women and men who recognise the importance of women’s voices in research and healthcare.
Consultants, lead nurses, and all my colleagues in the department have always shown me how to put patient’s needs at the centre of everything we do.
The disparities in sexual health and wellbeing care that I have witnessed between different subpopulations in Sussex, has re-ignited my longstanding passion to develop skills to address widening gaps in health provision through research, which can lead to impactful guideline and policy change.
Professor Newport, a well-renowned academic at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, has kindly agreed to act as a mentor in the initial stages of my academic career.
My career intention is to lead excellent research that contributes evidence to shape policy to improve sexual health and wellbeing of women living in disadvantaged communities.
This PhD fellowship is providing me with a rigorous training thereby setting the foundation for me to work towards becoming an independent researcher leading my own group.
On completion of my PhD, I will pursue postdoctoral training, for example, an NIHR Advanced Fellowship or an NIHR Clinical Lectureship which will allow me to complete my specialist training and establish my own research group, hopefully leading to an established clinical academic post. I initially hope to pilot the strategies developed in my PhD to improve access to sexual health and wellbeing care.
Making research accessible for all patients and staff
The aim of my research is to investigate and find solutions to improve outcomes for the most disadvantaged groups in our society.
Women in East Sussex need to be heard in healthcare research, especially research into the most stigmatised healthcare conditions such as those pertaining to sexual health and wellbeing.
They need better, and more equitable access, to important healthcare services. Without their and their provider’s input throughout the project, the work will not be worthwhile.
I am optimistic that my research will lead to the improvement in women’s participation in healthcare research and will have a valuable impact on the Sussex female health strategy, serving to improve access to healthcare, in particular sexual health and wellbeing services, for midlife women.
I hope that the Women’s Health Network that I have set up will help researchers to collaborate and work together to improve outcomes for women in this area.
I aim for my research to be used nationally, for example with recruiting midlife women to research trials, and I aspire to work with deprived coastal communities nationally (and hopefully internationally) to improve healthcare for some of the most marginalised people.
I feel extremely grateful to have been given this opportunity to combine my clinical work with researching, and hopefully influencing change, in such an important and relevant field.
I have already observed the importance of clinicians helping to design and conduct research trials, and also the huge influence that research can have on clinical outcomes. I would strongly advocate for people working in the trust to be involved in research.
The wide-ranging positive influence that well-designed and well conducted healthcare research exerts on our local population cannot be emphasised enough.