Sheffield Hallam University appoints Karen Sage from UWE as Professor of Allied Health Professions

Professor Karen Sage has joined Sheffield Hallam University as Professor of Allied Health Professions in the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing.

With around 600 staff and 8,800 students, the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing is a thriving area at Sheffield Hallam, providing teaching and learning, and applied research and consultancy to improve the health and wellbeing of people and communities. The Faculty was established with the aim of providing a joined up approach to wellness, covering research, healthy lifestyles, illness prevention and treatment and rehabilitation. Within the Faculty, the Department of Allied Health Professions is one of the largest AHP educational providers in the UK, with over 80 academic staff who deliver pre and post registration education to nearly 2,000 students in the UK and across the world. Provision in the Department includes diagnostic radiography and ultrasound physiotherapy, occupational therapy, operating department practice, paramedic practice, radio therapy and oncology and end of life care. The Department and team have strong links with health providers, and this role has a formal link (which has recently gained academic status) with the AHP directorate at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The University holds an Athena Swan Bronze Award.

During the search Society explored academics working in universities across the UK and Ireland, whose research and teaching interests presented a fit with the areas of focus within the Department. We were keen to find individuals who had experience of research leadership, but were also active research leaders themselves, with strong publication records.

Karen worked as an NHS speech and language therapist for 12 years in Burnley, Liverpool and Northumberland, before moving to the University of Manchester. She completed her Psychology PhD part-time at the University of York. Before joining Sheffield Hallam, Karen was Director of the Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit in the North Bristol NHS Trust and Underwood Professor of Language and Communication Disorders at the University of the West of England. Karen’s primary research interests are based around adults with acquired communication disorders (including aphasia) and she has experience of experimental, case series, qualitative and large trial study methods. She is a Member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and of the Health and Care Professions Council.