Allison Hirst

I have been Project Manager/Researcher for IDEAL since March 2013. My role is to develop and coordinate the work of the Collaboration primarily identifying and organising collaborative projects to progress IDEAL research methodologies in surgery and new devices.This includes research, organising conferences and meetings, educational workshops and management of the IDEAL website http://www.ideal-collaboration.net and Twitter account @IDEALCollab. 

Prior to joining IDEAL I was Research Fellow at the EQUATOR Network for 4 years. I managed EQUATOR’s research and educational programs working with all stakeholders in the health research and publication process including medical students, young researchers, journal editors, research governance organisations, ethics committees, policy-makers and funders of research to improve the quality of medical evidence primarily through the use of reporting guidelines such as CONSORT. http://www.equator-network.org

Before this I worked for 20 years in a variety of health researcher or project management roles including:

• Senior Project Manager of the Kadoorie Biobank Study, a blood-based prospective cohort study of 500,000 adults in China, a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the Chinese National Centre for Disease Control.
• Project Manager/Researcher of the HOPEFUL Study: a multi-centre retrospective cohort study comparing the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of hysterectomy and uterine artery embolisation (UAE) for the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids. NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme. (HTA Ref: 03/60/01)
• Research & Development Fellow, NICE. I developed the national clinical guideline on Osteoporosis.
• Macmillan Research Fellow, Cochrane  Cancer Network. I carried out a Cochrane systematic review “Benzodiazepines for insomnia in palliative care”.
• Research Assistant, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Oxford. I coordinated a large-scale primary research project looking at the influence of the media, specifically the TV hospital drama ‘Casualty’ on attendance rates at A&E Departments across the UK.
• Research Assistant, Department of Medicine, Pacific Medical Center, Seattle, USA. I carried out a project examining the bone density of female athletes.
• Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, Anthropology Unit, Oxford Brookes University.
• Assistant Administrator, Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

I gained my first degree in Human Sciences, Wadham College, University of Oxford and then a Master’s degree in Exercise and Health Sciences from the University of Bristol. I have a Diploma in Teaching in Higher Education and am a registered Level 3 UK Athletics Coach.