Austen El-Osta

I am Director of the Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) & Primary Care Research Manager at the School of Public Health. I'm also supporting the WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education & Training, NIHR Healtth-Technology Research Centre (HRC) & Dagnostic Evidence Co-operative (DEC) London, the West London Research Network (WeLReN), Imperial Research Hub & Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) Directorate of Public Health & Primary Care in the same capacity. I am also chair of the Research Trailbazers group. My principal aim is to widen access & participation in research & to help accelerate the widespread adoption & diffusion of evidence-based health & wellbeing interventions- with a particular focus on leveraging self-care, lifestyle medicine, digital self-care & self-driven healthcare approaches. Prior to assuming this role, I was based at Guy’s Hospital where I worked in a similar capacity within the NIHR Clinical Research Network. My earlier career spanned a number of disparate fields including molecular & cell biology, vision research, laser-tissue interaction & medical device engineering. Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) SCARU is a tripartite collaboration between Imperial College School of Public Health, the Self-Care Forum & the International Self-Care Foundation where I am also Director & Trustee. SCARU will explore how the application of self-care could result in improved outcomes & lower dependency on scarce health & care resources, whilst also identifying key evidence-based recommendations for the consideration of commissioners of health & policy makers. The Unit will act as a hub with the aim of making the absolute case for self-care by coordinating a wide portfolio of research activity. RESUMÉ I hold a Doctorate in Medicine from King’s College London, a Masters in Lifestyle Medicine (ongoing) fromt he University of Thessaly, a Masters in Public Administration from the London South Bank University, an MSc in Pathology & Virology from Imperial College London & a BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics from Queen Mary University of London. I was recently awarded Chartered Manager (C.Mgr) status by the Chartered Management Institute but failed miserably at becoming a certified PRINCE2 practitioner. The Master & the Apprentice I am an expert patient with ADHD- a condition that my mentors helped me leverage as a superpower. The three living figures that shaped me the most are my father, the fictitiuos Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Startship Enterprise & Professor John Marshall (my PhD & post-doctoral research supervisor). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marshall_(eye_laser_scientist) I'm otherwise fascinated with bees, honey & apitherapy. I continue to be inspired by Bach's reverential French Suites & Partitas, and consider Martha Argerich, Khatia Buniatishvili & Yuja Wang as the most formidable pianists alive today. I also have a lot of admiration for the veritable Andras Schiff. The rest is noise. "If you have no honey in your pot, have some in your mouth" (Benjamin Franklin)

• Faculty of Medicine