Professor Helen Ward on patient engagement
Helen is a Professor of Public Health within the Faculty of Medicine. She joined St Mary's Hospital as a junior doctor in 1984, going on to work as a clinician within genitourinary medicine and undertake training in Public Health. Her research has determined sex workers' risk of contracting HIV. 
This research has drawn on methods from a variety of disciplines including ethnography and anthropology. Amongst other responsibilities, she leads the Imperial Patient Experience Research Centre (PERC) which leads on patient and public involvement for the Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and researches participatory approaches to improving health care quality.
Listen to Helen's highlight story, in which she talks about cross-disciplinary collaborations and the power of conversation with patients.
professor helen ward on patient engagement /
Reflections on research
From 2013: A collaborative output between the neighbouring arms of the NIHR infrastructure in Northwest London - i.e. NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), NIHR Royal Brompton Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, NIHR Royal Brompton Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit and the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for North West London examining the experiences of patients in North West London having taken part in the research process.
Hustling for health
Watch Professor Helen Ward's inaugural lecture from 2011.
'Hustling for health' refers to sex workers who apply skills developed through soliciting business in hostile environments to the struggle to access rights and healthcare. It also refers to a public health doctor using the skills she developed in medicine and political activism to raise money for preventative programmes in an Academic Health Science Centre, introduce radical educational programmes and smuggle more social science into a staunchly biomedical university.
Further information on patient and public involvement (PPI)
PPI Resource Hub
New online PPI resources, developed by the Patient Experience Research Centre (PERC), can help you involve members of the public in your research.
PPI training
PERC has also developed a series of PPI training modules for both Imperial researchers and patients/ members of the public.