Project Job Title
Professor Dame Caroline Watkins – Professor of Stroke and Older People’s Care, Director of Research and Innovation for the Faculty of Health & Wellbeing, Lancashire Clinical Trials Unit and the Lancashire Research Institute for global health and Wellbeing at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She is the only nursing professor of stroke care in the UK and contributes to stroke service development at a local, national and international level. Caroline leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers with a large portfolio of clinically relevant research which spans five areas in stroke and older peoples’ care: prevention and pre-hospital care, education and workforce development, acute care, rehabilitation and long-term care. Caroline’s commitment to workforce development is reflected in the appointment as Director of Capacity Building and Implementation for NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care North West Coast (NIHR CLAHRC NWC). Caroline’s work was recognised with the award of the DBE for Services to Nursing and Older People’s Care in 2017. Caroline received National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator Award in 2009 and 2016, and acts as NIHR Academic Training Advocate for Nursing clinical academic careers. Caroline is Lead and Chief Investigator of the NIHR GHRG on Improving Stroke Care in India, is co-applicant on another GHRG for stroke in Sierra Leone, and international advisor on another focussing on improving the identification and management of AF in Asia and South America. Caroline is a member of the Steering Group and contributes to the oversight of the project.
