Research Team

Dr Penny Rapaport | Chief Investigator

Dr Penny Rapaport is a Clinical Psychologist and Chief Investigator of the HTA funded DREAMS:START RCT. Penny is interested in developing deliverable and sustainable psychosocial interventions for people living with memory problems and those supporting them. Penny is also a dignity at work advisor and co-leads the staff mentoring scheme in the Division of Psychiatry.

Professor Gill Livingston | Co-Chief Investigator

Professor Gill Livingston is the Chief Investigator for DREAMS:START. Gill is also Professor of Psychiatry of Older People, Head of Mental Health Care of older people’s research department and deputy director of the Division of Psychiatry, University College London. She is also a consultant psychiatrist working in the memory clinic, Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. She leads the Lancet Standing Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care. 

Dr Sarah Amador | Trial Manager and Investigator

Dr Sarah Amador is a Social Psychologist who is a coapplicant and Trial Manager for DREAMS:START. If you have any queries about the project please do email Sarah at: s.amador@ucl.ac.uk

Professor Sube Banerjee | Investigator

Sube Banerjee MBE, MBBS MSc MBA MD FRCPsych is Executive Dean and Professor of Dementia in the Faculty of Health at the University of Plymouth. He trained at St Thomas’s, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. He served as the UK Department of Health’s senior professional advisor on dementia leading the development of its National Dementia Strategy. His research focusses on quality of life and quality of care in dementia and the evaluation of new treatments and services. He works on health services, policy and strategies to improve health for older adults with complex needs and those with dementia; he practices as an old age psychiatrist.  He has been awarded national and international awards for policy and research in dementia.

Dr Julie Barber | Investigator

Dr Julie Barber is an Associate Professor in Medical Statistics based at the UCL Department of Statistical science. She is a senior statistician in the PRIMENT clinical trials unit and is lead statistical co-applicant for DREAMS:START.

Dr Georgina Charlesworth | Investigator

Dr Georgina Charlesworth is an Associate Professor in UCL’s Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology and a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT). She is a local Principal Investigator for DREAMS in NELFT.

Dr Chris Clarke | Investigator

Professor Colin Espie | Investigator

Colin is the Professor of Sleep Medicine at the University of Oxford, where he is Director of the Experimental & Clinical Sleep Medicine research programme, and Clinical Director of Oxford Online Programme in Sleep Medicine. He is a Senior Research Fellow at Somerville College and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry. He is a co-applicant for DREAMS-START and offers guidance on assessment of and intervention of sleep problems.

He is internationally known for his work on insomnia and its treatment, using cognitive behavioural therapeutics (CBTx). He has published over 300 scientific papers and several textbooks. He is Deputy Editor of Journal of Sleep Research, serves on the editorial board of Sleep Medicine Reviews, and was awarded Honorary Fellow of the BABCP (British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies) in 2015, the Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award by the Sleep Research Society in 2017, and the Peter Hauri Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award by the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine in 2021. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Dr Simon Kyle | Investigator

Simon is an Associate Professor at Oxford and a co-applicant of DREAMS-START, with specific research interests in the aetiology and management of sleep disturbance and the interaction between sleep disturbance and mental health. 

Ms Rossana Horsley | Investigator

Rossana has been a volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Society’s Research Network since 2014. She looked after her mother, who had mixed dementia, for the last 3 years of her life. This experience made her very aware of the impact of sleep disturbance on both the person with the illness and on family carers. Keen to contribute what she had learnt to a project that could help others deal better with this issue she has been involved from the start.

Professor Rachael Hunter | Investigator

Professor Hunter is the senior health economist for DREAMS: START. Rachael is Professor of Health Economics at UCL and has an interest in how to evaluate the costs and effectiveness of therapeutic interventions in mental health and older people.

Dr Gosia Raczek | Investigator

Gosia is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Centre for Dementia Studies (CDS) and a module leader for the MSc in Dementia Studies. She is a clinical academic consultant and local PI for DREAMS-START in Old Age Psychiatry at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, where she works in Memory Assessment Service in North West Sussex and Dementia Research Unit (DRU) in Crowborough. Gosia is a PhD student at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre working on a study of brain structure and connectivity in neuropsychiatric symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and an investigator on studies run by DRU and CDS.

Dr Zuzana Walker | Investigator

Zuzana has been actively involved in research in dementia since 1993. Her main areas of research are Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), functional and molecular neuroimaging in subjective and mild cognitive impairment, post-mortem validation of clinical and imaging findings and new treatments in dementia. I have published several key papers on neuroimaging of the dopamine transporter in DLB & Parkinson’s disease and co-authored a number of clinical guidance and research criteria. Zuzana is a coapplicant and Principle Investigator in Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT) for DREAMS-START.

Dr Lucy Webster | Investigator

Lucy is a co-applicant on DREAMS, supporting the use of actigraphy in the trial. She is also leading on one of the Studies Within A Project (SWAPs) looking into long-term conditions and sleep disturbances, as well as the use of wireless EEG headbands.

Caroline Connell | Researcher

I have a BSc in Psychology and MSc in Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience. Previously, I worked in a Sleep Disorder Centre and also as a Dementia Advisor. When the opportunity arose to work as a research assistant on DREAMS: START,  it was the perfect opportunity to combine my two research interests, sleep, and dementia. It's great to be part of this research that aims to offer help to people who wouldn't have otherwise received any.

Monica Manela | Researcher

Monica is a Research Assistant for DREAMS-START.

Sarah Morris | Researcher

Sarah is a Clinical Research Practitioner for DREAMS:START who has led recruitment in TEWV where she has worked for 5 years. Sarah loves her job and has a passion for dementia research.

Liam Pikett | Researcher

Liam Pikett is a Researcher based at UCL working in dementia research since 2016 and has worked clinically as an Assistant Psychologist. He has led on recruitment as part of the core team and also delivers the intervention to participants allocated to the treatment arm of DREAMS:START.

Emma Thornton | Researcher

I have a BSc in Psychology, an MRes in Clinical Research and am currently completing doctoral training in Counselling Psychology. I have previously worked in older people’s services within the memory clinic and also on a ward for people with dementia. I am passionate about supporting people to improve their sleep and have worked on delivering sleep support to people experiencing psychosis, so DREAMS START offered the opportunity for me to combine all of my interests and experience. I recruit people into the study and also deliver the DREAMS START intervention to participants.

Ankita Bhojwani

Ankita is a Research Assistant on the sub-study evaluating the impact of the DREAMS:START intervention on people living with dementia and other long-term conditions, like diabetes and hypertension. She is also investigating the feasibility of a wearable EEG device called the Dreem headband in measuring the sleep of people living with dementia.

Please contact Ankita at a.bhojwani@ucl.ac.uk if you have any questions regarding her project.

Malvika Muralidhar

Malvika is a Research Assistant on the Widening Access sub-study, focused on adapting the DREAMS:START intervention and making it more accessible to the South Asian communities. She is also involved in the Hindi translation of the manuals and community engagement endeavours with third sector organisations.

Please contact Malvika at Malvika.muralidhar.21@ucl.ac.uk if you have any questions regarding her project.

Dr Chris Clarke 

Chris is a co-applicant for DREAMS:START and Principle Investigator for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, where he works as a consultant clinical psychologist. He is also a clinical lecturer on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate programme at the University of Hull.