Clarissa Gardner

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT CLARISSA GARDNER

I am interested in how we can leverage user-centred design principles and high-quality user research to improve our experience of health and care. My work is about capturing and addressing the needs of the public and patients as well as providers. I have several years’ experience conducting research and codesign projects with users and stakeholders across healthcare topics such as: digital transformation patient safety community care public health consumer healthI am a Senior User Researcher at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) supporting the organisation\'s digital transformation goals.I previously was a User Researcher at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in which I conduct research on the NICE Design System as well as information-seeking behaviours across NICE guidelines to support one of our core strategic programmes. In academia, I designed and conducted user research on digital health interventions created by commercial organisations including multinational pharmaceutical companies and start-ups. I produced findings which informed product development and generate evidence for the impact of these products. I have published and lead-authored peer-reviewed articles describing novel methods for conducting user research in healthcare contexts. My background includes work in the NHS as a Clinical Trial Practitioner, recruiting patients with rare diseases and suspected cancer to the Genomes Project. I also have experience in public engagement and science communication, from which I developed excellent presentation and writing skills I now use for effective storytelling of research findings.I am actively involved in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives as a mentor for people from underrepresented backgrounds in Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) professions. I also designed and founded my own initiative, called the Julia Anderson Training Programme at the Institute of Global Innovation, Imperial College London, which offers paid and meaningful work placements to those with limited prior work experience.