Biography
Anna Spathis trained in hospital medicine, general practice and palliative medicine, before working as a palliative medicine consultant in the NHS for over a decade. Since 2019, she has been employed by the University of Cambridge, continuing to work clinically as an honorary consultant in the Cambridge Breathlessness Intervention Service, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her research focuses on brief, community-based complex interventions for the management of intractable symptoms, such as breathlessness and fatigue, caused by long-term conditions. She has a particular interest in the development of health professional educational tools that facilitate symptom management by providing treatment rationale and structure. Anna is the Specialty Director for the palliative care clinical course within the Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Academic Lead for the East of England Specialty Training Committee and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is extensively involved in delivery of postgraduate education on the management of chronic breathlessness. Anna is a Fellow and Clinical Director of Studies at St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge.
Research
Anna’s research focuses on brief, community-based complex interventions for the management of intractable fatigue and breathlessness in chronic disease. Her MD thesis described a series of studies culminating in working with young cancer patients to co-design an age-appropriate fatigue intervention. She is developing and evaluating conceptual models that describe vicious cycles of emotional and behavioural responses to breathlessness and fatigue; the models can explain symptom perpetuation and facilitate intervention.
Publications
A full list of publications is available – https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9837-7281
Teaching and Supervisions
Design and testing of complex interventions for the management of chronic symptoms caused by long-term conditions, particularly breathlessness and fatigue
