Biography
Dr Sarah Hopkins is a The Dunhill Medical Trust and British Geriatrics Society Doctoral Clinical Research Fellow and a Specialty Registrar in Geriatric and General Internal Medicine. She is motivated by a desire to improve care for older frailer people, their families and informal carers. Sarah completed her medical degree at the University of Cambridge, and subsequently an Academic Foundation Programme in Geriatric and Stroke Medicine (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) and Core Medical Training in Oxford. She is currently a Geriatric Medicine trainee in the East of England. Sarah was appointed Chief Resident at Hinchingbrooke Hospital (2016-17), CLAHRC Fellow in 2017, and Cambridge Clinical Research Fellow in 2018. As well as her clinical and research roles, she is actively involved in undergraduate teaching, acting as a facilitator on the Palliative Care, and Ethics and Law courses for the University of Cambridge Clinical School, and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Research
Sarah is interested in understanding what best practices are – from the perspectives of patients, carers, families and clinicians – and how to achieve these. At present, she is researching advance care planning with older people living with frailty. Her systematic review highlighted that many older people currently do not participate in advance care planning, despite its potential to improve their end-of-life care. To date, patients, carers and clinicians have had limited involvement in understanding and addressing this shortfall, something Sarah is working to address.
Publications
Hopkins S A, Hoare S E, Polak L, Lovick R, Simpson R, Chhetri J K et al. Does frailty need a new name? BMJ 2024; 386 :e076862 doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-076862
Hopkins SA, Lovick R, Polak L, Bowers B, Morgan T, Kelly MP, Barclay S. Reassessing advance care planning in the light of covid-19. BMJ. 2020;369:m1927
Hopkins SA, Bentley A, Phillips V, Barclay S. Advance care plans and hospitalized frail older adults: a systematic review. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care. 2020;10(2):164-174
Teaching and Supervisions
Sarah is a facilitator on the Palliative Care, and Ethics and Law courses for the University of Cambridge Clinical School.
