Meet our research team

Simon has a successful history of service delivery and development within complex healthcare organisations.

In 2016, he became the Director of Strategy and Development at the hospice. His remit covers strategy, research, technology and business intelligence.

Simon also serves as the Chairperson of the active partnership charity, Rise. He also serves on the Newcastle PSRC Polypharmacy Theme Implementation and Management Group.

Previously, Simon was Chief Executive of a visual impairment charity, Director of a national healthcare consultancy and a Senior Projects Manager/New Business lead for a national healthcare charity.

He has co-authored service specifications adopted as best practices by both the Royal Colleges of General Practitioners and Nursing, and has developed primary and secondary care strategies for clinical commissioning groups and acute trusts across England.

ORCID - 0009-0009-6778-7075

Amanda Lee has a longstanding connection with St Oswald’s Hospice. She was appointed Head of Strategy and Research Development in January 2024 but her involvement with the hospice began in January 2020 when she initially volunteered and later took on the role of Research Centre Manager.

Prior to her tenure at St Oswald’s Hospice, Amanda served as the Chief Operating Officer at the Clinical Research Network Yorkshire and Humber (CRN). During her time with the CRN, she restructured the senior management team and built strong relationships with the network’s key partner organisations across the region, which included 21 NHS trusts, 21 CCGs, and numerous GP practices and non-NHS entities.

Before her time at CRN, Amanda founded the Newcastle Joint Research Office (NJRO), which supports all the research endeavours within the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University.

In April 2022, Amanda provided consultancy services to the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Independent Hospices before returning to St Oswald’s Hospice to assume her current position.

Amanda specialises in forging partnerships with external organisations, with a significant track record in developing commercial collaborations. Throughout her career, she has established research partnerships at the organisational level with major pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, GSK, Quintiles, and IQVIA.

Amanda is proactive in safeguarding the safety of research initiatives from a patient standpoint, as well as actively upholding the integrity of data collection and procedural processes. Despite her role often being described as "behind the scenes," she extensively engages at both regional and national levels.

Her efforts focus on fostering strategic research partnerships to ensure that patients and their families at the Hospice benefit from research-driven care.

Connect with Amanda on social media:

• LinkedIn

ORCID - 0000-0001-9648-5329

Dr Felicity Dewhurst is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Oswald’s Hospice and an NIHR Advanced Fellow and Senior Clinical Lecturer in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University.

Following her Dunhill doctoral fellowship, she lobbied for the creation of the first NIHR Academic Clinical Lectureship in Palliative Medicine in Newcastle, and subsequently successfully applied for the first NIHR Advanced Fellowship in Palliative Medicine nationally (January 2024-6.25 years).

Felicity has developed a mixed methods programme of research, her interests include promoting equity in palliative care particularly in relation to frailty, multiple long-term conditions, non-malignant disease and ethnic minority groups. She has achieved funding successes as lead applicant (>£1.75 million including five NIHR awards) and co-applicant (>£5.8 million) and has a strong international publication and presentation record including writing and presenting to policy audiences.

Felicity has built regional and national research collaborations and her research has resulted in prize winning service innovation (Hospice UK) with further service expansion planned (funded by Macmillan).

Felicity has a Master’s in Health Professions Education and is on the education committee of the Association of Palliative Medicine (APM) and the organising committee for the Palliative Care Congress (PCC). She is passionate about trying to improve care through research, education and service modification.

ORCID - 0000-0002-0712-9208

Jo is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Oswald’s Hospice and also works with the regional children’s palliative care service (CHIPS) based in Great North Children’s Hospital. She is particularly interested in improving care for children and young adults with complex and life-limiting conditions.

Jo has been involved in initiatives to improve transition between children’s and adult services at local, regional and national level. She chairs APM/APPM (Association for Palliative Medicine / Association for Paediatric Palliative Medicine) Transition and Young Adult Group. She is also a Trustee of the charity, Palliative Care for People with Learning Disabilities.

As a researcher, Jo completed her MA in Education in 2010 (Winchester). She has received Clinical Research Network research delivery awards since 2020 – supporting her research activity alongside clinical work. As well as leading local participation in research studies, Jo also represents St Oswald’s Hospice in the national CoPPAR (Collaborative Paediatric Palliative Care Research) Network. She has contributed to development of training resources, guidelines and reviews, working with E-learning for health, British Thoracic Society and NCEPOD (National Confidential Enquiry for Patient Outcomes and Death).

ORCID – 0009-0001-1548-8331

Dr Lisa Bushby is a Senior Occupational Therapist at St Oswald’s Hospice and Honorary Research Fellow at Newcastle University. She also holds an Honorary Contract for Specialist Occupational Therapy and Clinical Hypnosis at The Newcastle Motor Neurone Disease Care and Research Centre, based at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Lisa specialises in Motor Neurone Disease (MND) care and research. She has developed specialist skills in using clinical hypnosis to manage complex symptoms associated with the condition and holds a PhD from Northumbria University in The Lived Experience of Drooling Associated with Bulbar symptoms in MND.

In 2024, Lisa was awarded a research grant by The Elizabeth Casson Trust for the following study: Experiences and decision-making processes leading to premature withdrawal from important occupations in Motor Neurone Disease (MND): coproduction of a novel Occupational Therapy Intervention to promote occupational engagement (The MNDOT study).

Diane Nicholson joined the Children and Young Adults Service at St Oswald’s Hospice in 2003, becoming a Sister in the unit in 2014.

She trained in nursing at Shotley Bridge Hospital, in County Durham, where she developed a passion for paediatrics.

Once qualified, Diane worked as a children’s nurse within the NHS and completed her Children’s Nursing Diploma.

At St Oswald’s Hospice, she sees caring for children and young adults with life-limiting conditions and their families and carers as a “privilege”.

Diane is committed to finding ways to better support young people with life-limiting conditions. She recently led Finding Lost Voices project that explored the impact Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) techniques can have in a hospice setting.

Nicola Richardson completed her Advanced Diploma in Nursing in 2006 and spent 4 years working in the neurology high dependency unit at Newcastle General Hospital.

She joined St Oswald’s Hospice as a Staff Nurse in 2010, was appointed a Junior Sister in 2014, and became a Sister in 2020. Nicola completed a part-time degree in Palliative Care at Northumbria University while at St Oswald’s Hospice, where she was given the Jennifer Cole Award for her dedication to her academic studies.

As the Team Support Sister in our Adult Inpatient Service, Nicola supports the Matron and provides medical care for patients. She is also the blood transfusion link nurse, the clinical student placement lead and manages internal training on the ward. Nicola is part of the CHELsea II research project investigating the use of clinically assisted hydration (CAH) in end of life. She has undergone extensive training and is now the Sub Principal Investigator (PI) for the randomised trial at St Oswald’s Hospice.

This is the first research project for Nicola. She describes it as a “massive learning curve” for which she’s “learnt a lot”. Nicola is keen to get involved in future research at the hospice.