Dr Claudia Cooper | Chief Investigator
Claudia is Chief Investigator of APPLE-Tree, a Professor of older people’s psychiatry at UCL Division of Psychiatry and an Honorary consultant old age psychiatrist in Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust memory services.
She also leads the NIDUS Study, investigating new interventions to promote independence in those with Dementia; and is a member of: the UK Cabinet Office Trial Advice Panel, PRIMENT Clinical Trials Unit steering group; and the UK Royal College of Psychiatrist’s psychopharmacology committee; and co-director of the UCL Wellcome Doctoral Training Programme for mental health and postgraduate tutor for UCL Division of Psychiatry.
Dr Michaela Poppe | Programme Manager
Michaela studied Patholinguistics at the University of Potsdam in Germany and completed an MSc in Human Communication at UCL. She went on to do a PhD in Psychology at King's College London investigating language function in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Michaela worked on several clinical trials and qualitative studies in the fields of dementia and intellectual disability at UCL and at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London.
Sinéad McIntyre | Research Assistant
Sinéad has a BSc in Psychology from Leiden University (The Netherlands) and an MSc in Human Cognitive Neuropsychology from the University of Edinburgh. Before joining the APPLE-Tree team she worked as a Specialist Healthcare Assistant in an NHS Memory Service where she facilitated group Cognitive Stimulation Therapy for individuals with MCI and dementia in the community, and as a Clinical Research Practitioner with an NHS Trust where she supported and delivered various mental health research studies.
Sweedal Alberts | Research Assistant
Sweedal graduated with a BSc in Psychology and a MRes in Clinical Psychology from the University of Birmingham. Before working on the APPLE-Tree project, she worked as an Assistant Psychologist in an NHS Mental Health team inside a women’s prison where she provided a variety of low-intensity psychological interventions, co-facilitated therapy groups and delivered trauma-informed staff training. She has also previously worked with King’s College London and across various NHS trusts on projects for people experiencing Psychosis and Complex Mental Health. Prior to this, Sweedal has been part of projects for young people with neurodevelopment difficulties such as Prader-Willi syndrome and Autism.
Abinaya Nadarajah | Research Assistant
Abinaya has a BSc in Psychology from University of Lincoln and a MSc in Child and Adolescent Mental Health from UCL. Before joining the APPLE-Tree team she worked as a Research Assistant at the Anna Freud Centre, supporting the remote delivery of wellbeing interventions for young people, parents/carers and school staff.
