Meet Dr Tamla Evans

I recently completed my PhD, which evaluated the design and delivery of behavioural support in the NHS England Low-Calorie Diet Pilot Programme. Working within the Obesity Institute to achieve this work and the other wider objectives of the NIHR funded evaluation was a fantastic experience. The opportunity to contribute to an impactful applied health project whilst collaborating with a fantastic team is one I will never forget!

Now that I have completed my studies, I have transitioned into a Postdoctoral position within the Institute, where I will continue to contribute (and hopefully lead) other applied health research projects. Presently, our team is working on an NIHR funded evaluation of the NHS England Complications in Excess Weight clinics – a paediatric weight management service. In partnership with Leeds Teaching Hospitals, I am hoping to explore the experiences of disordered eating in young people accessing these services and the experiences of health professionals in assessing and supporting disordered eating.

During the final year of my PhD, I was also fortunate to win the Health Behaviour International Collaborative Award – funded by the International Society of Behavioural Medicine. The award funded an international collaboration with the University of Newcastle, Australia, and mentorship by Professor Tracy Burrows and Laureate Professor Clare Collins – world leaders in nutrition research. This included a 3-week visit to their (very beautiful) campus in Australia, where I was trained in the delivery of TRACE – a remote intervention for addictive eating. The aim of our work together is to co-produce an adapted intervention for implementation in the UK. Over the past 6-months, I have been working with a fantastic group of lived experience participants to culturally tailor the intervention. Our hope is to source larger funding to trial the adapted version of TRACE here in the UK. I was over the moon to receive the HBIC award and the once in a lifetime opportunity to visit our international colleagues – shout out to Tracy and her kids for taking me dolphin watching in the neighbouring Nelson’s Bay – a truly unforgettable day! I am very much looking forward to continuing our collaboration in my Postdoctoral role.

Alongside my academic role, I also work as a Practitioner Health Psychologist in the Clinical Health Psychology department at Mid Yorkshire Teaching Hospitals. Our service provides psychological care to patients with a range of long-term conditions, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, irritable bowel disease, and fibromyalgia. Having trained within the service in 2023, I am excited to contribute further to the department in my qualified role. At present I am working on service development projects to enhance our multi-disciplinary working with medical professionals in the Trust and providing training and consultation on the role of psychology in health. Helping professionals to integrate this into their holistic practice. I am also looking forward to applying my academic skills to a range of research projects and service evaluations in the Trust. As the first Health Psychologist in the department, I am excited to contribute my unique skill set to the Trust and hopefully develop more training routes and jobs for Health Psychologists/Trainees. So far, I am very much enjoying combining practice and academia and the diversity this brings me across my working week. I love being able to draw connections between my research and practice, and the opportunity to apply the evidence base in a real-world context. I am hoping that my work in both settings will foster new collaborations between Leeds Beckett and the NHS Trust as I believe partnership working to be most effective for achieving impact with our research.

Overall, I am very grateful to all the wonderful people I have met over the past few years who have opened doors for me and supported my development as a scientist-practitioner. I am also grateful to NHS England who invited me to contribute my expertise to the national procurement of the NHS Low-Calorie Diet. In my previous Obesity Institute blog, I talked about the internal battles I had prior to my PhD, when contemplating whether to pursue my passion for Health Psychology. This is unfortunately not a unique challenge due to the competitiveness of the psychology profession. Taking a moment to reflect on this, my journey, and achievement of where I am today is very rewarding and I hope others take that leap towards doing what they love too.