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Lina Gega
Professor of Mental Health. Director, Institute of Mental Health Research at York

Profile

Biography

Lina Gega is Professor of Mental Health at Hull York Medical School, and the Inaugural Director of the Institute of Mental Health Research under the auspices of the Vice Chancellor’s Office at the University of York.

She is an Honorary Nurse Consultant in Psychological Therapies at Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Trust, a Professorial Fellow at the South East European Research Centre at City College Thessaloniki Greece, and an Adjunct Teaching Fellow at the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin.

Supported with over £8million in funding from UK Research Councils, 12 funded PhD studentships and post-doctoral fellowships, and €7million from Horizon Europe, Lina’s work in mental health has been captured in 80+ papers and books chapters, a monograph, and 100+ talks and interviews for academic, professional and lay audiences.

Lina’s subject expertise straddles two areas:

  1. digital mental health, especially the clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of technology-enabled interventions.
  2. child and adolescent mental health, focusing on lean and scalable interventions across health services, schools and communities.

Her broader research interests relate to vulnerabilities and mental health, especially interventions and responses to mitigate physical, psychological and social vulnerabilities that stem from - or can lead to - poor mental wellbeing or mental illness.

Within the University of York, Lina chairs the Mentally Fit York Disbursement Group, which is responsible for the distribution of philanthropic funds, and the Mental Health Research Partnership Operations Committee, which oversees the University’s joint research activities with local NHS Trusts. She is a member of the Sciences Faculty Executive Board, the Sciences Faculty Research Group, the University’s Research Forum and the University’s Clinical Trials Sponsorship Committee.

Externally, Lina currently serves as Joint Editor for the academic journal ‘Child and Adolescent Mental Health’, as course examiner for the MSc in Mental Health at the University of Birmingham and as expert advisor for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Wellcome Trust. She sits in funding committees for the Research Council of Finland and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Throughout her career, Lina’s frontline work, leadership and management roles have been equally distributed across research, teaching and clinical practice. Here are some highlights: 

Research

In October 2022, Lina launched the Institute of Mental Health Research at York (IMRY), which brings together colleagues and students involved in mental health research across 22 academic departments in 3 Faculties (Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities). The Institute oversees the operationalisation of partnerships between the University of York and local NHS Trusts. It also promotes the work of the University’s Office for Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni (OPPA) and its trading company PCMIS Health Technologies Ltd.

Lina currently leads a large NIHR-funded research programme called ComBAT (Community-based Behavioural Activation Training for Depression in Adolescents) and disseminates one-session treatment for childhood phobias following a successful NIHR-funded clinical trial (ASPECT). She co-leads a programme of work in mental health and wellbeing within the police workforce with the ESRC Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre. With colleagues from the University of York’s Europe Campus at CITY College Thessaloniki Greece, she co-leads a work-package for the Horizon-funded project Mentbest ‘Protecting Mental Health at Times of Change’.

Teaching

In her role as Chair of the Postgraduate Programmes Board at Hull York Medical School (HYMS), Lina had oversight of the progression of over 300 master’s and doctorate students across 10 taught and research programmes in two host Universities. She also led Schwartz Rounds for the medical school: an inter-disciplinary forum for students and staff to come together and discuss the emotional and social challenges of working in healthcare. At Norwich Medical School, she led the psychiatry module for 170 final-year medical students with a team of 30 psychiatrists and general practitioners.

At King’s College London, as Branch Lead for Mental Health Nursing, Lina was responsible for a 3-year undergraduate degree with over 300 nursing students. She also designed and taught an intensive 2-year multidisciplinary clinical course in her role as Programme Director for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) Training. Her commitment in teaching and student support was recognised by King’s College London with a College Teaching Excellence Award, a College Teaching Fellowship and a Vice Chancellor’s nomination for a National Teaching Award.

Clinical Practice

As Clinical Lead of a psychological therapies service in Northumberland, with 4,200 patients per year and 30+ therapists, trainees and administrators, Lina was responsible for good clinical practice and efficient service delivery. In Norfolk, she was the clinical expert in the core commissioning panel with the local NHS Trust, which was responsible for the procurement of the regional primary care psychological therapies service.

Lina has served as Director and Clinical Safety Officer for PCMIS (Health Technologies Ltd., a University of York trading company that provides a digital platform for case management and data collection in a third of all NHS Talking Therapy Services in England. She is currently the Research Champion for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services with the North East North Cumbria NIHR Clinical Research Network.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Health Services Research. ‘Pragmatic Evaluation of Computer-aided Self-Help for Depression/Anxiety’ King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Health Services Research Department (Jan 2009)
  • BA (Hons) Adult Behavioural Psychotherapy. Sheffield Hallam University, School of Health & Community Studies with Sheffield Community Health NHS Trust (July 2000)
  • BN (Hons) Nursing Studies. University of Nottingham, Postgraduate Division, School of Nursing, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham (July 1998)
  • PGCert Behavioural Psychotherapeutic Studies. Sheffield Hallam University, School of Health & Community Studies with Sheffield Community Health NHS Trust (July 2000)
  • Accredited Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) Practitioner. British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (renewed Feb 2011)
  • ENB 650 & ENB Higher Award Specialist Practitioner in Mental Health. English National Board (July 2000)
  • Registered Nurse in Mental Health (RMN). Nursing & Midwifery Council (July 1998)

Research

Overview

Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Lina’s work on child and adolescent mental health includes three randomised controlled trials with economic evaluations on behavioural activation for adolescent depression, single session treatment for severe and debilitating childhood phobias, and a group intervention to improve quality of life for children living with parental mental illness.

In collaboration with industry partners, Lina translated therapy principles into digital products: a computer game that can teach graded exposure therapy to children with phobias and a virtual environments system to help adults with social anxiety and children with social communication difficulties. Lina also led an NIHR-funded series of evidence synthesis on costs and outcomes of digital mental health interventions.

Working with the York Law School, Lina is co-investigator in two projects: administrative fairness in healthcare, funded by SPARKS, and mental health and wellbeing within the police workforce, funded jointly by the ESRC Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre and the Institute of Mental Health Research at York. With colleagues at the University of York’s Europe Campus CITY College Thessaloniki Greece, and partners from 10 European countries, Lina co-leads one of the work-packages for the project Mentbest ‘Protecting Mental Health at Times of Change’ funded by Horizon 2022.

 

Projects

Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Lean and scalable interventions across health services, schools and communities.

Here are 3 examples:

 Digital Mental Health

Clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of technology-enabled interventions.

Here are 3 project examples:

Vulnerabilities and Mental Health

Mitigating physical, psychological and social vulnerabilities associated with mental health and illness.

 Here are 3 project examples:

Research group(s)

  • Mental Health and Addiction Research Group (MHARG)
  • Centre for Health and Population Sciences (CHaPS)
  • Child Oriented Mental Health Intervention Centre (COMIC)
  • Digital Creativity Labs (DCLabs)
  • Intelligent Games and Games Intelligence (IGGI)

Supervision

Lina is interested in supervising PhD students in two areas:

  • digital technologies in mental health
  • children and young people’s mental health

Publications

Full publications list

Teaching

Undergraduate

MBBS, Hull York Medical School, Faculty of Sciences, University of York

  • Ethics & Professionalism
  • Scholarship & Special Interest Programme (SSIP) – Phase I
  • Scholarship & Special Interest Programme (SSIP) – Phase II
  • Critically Appraised Topics (CATs)
  • Health & Society

Postgraduate

Intelligent Games & Games Intelligence (IGGI) EPSRC Doctorate Training Programme, Dept of Computer Science, University of York.

  • Game Design Module

MSc Students

  • 2021 Tinnie Louie, MSc in Public Health. ‘Impact of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) on Social Isolation and Loneliness: A Systematic Review’.
  • 2019 Joseph Horne, MSc in Applied Health Research. ‘Do digital health interventions improve the symptoms of serious mental illness? A review of reviews.’
  • 2019 Lucy Burns, MSc in Public Health. ‘Do community-delivered, group-based interventions improve social connectedness for 11-18-year-olds?’
  • 2017 Dikshyanta Rana, MSc in Health Economics. ‘Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations of Digital Mental Health Interventions.’
  • 2017 Fiona Rose, MSc in Public Health. ‘How do mindfulness participants perceive their emotional intelligence? A qualitative synthesis.’

PhD Students

  • 2024 – current Georgia Papaioannou, Hull York Medical School, based at CITY College Thessaloniki Greece. ‘Mental Health of Older Adults in Time of Digital Change’.
  • 2024 – current Abdulaziz Alanazi, Department of Health Sciences. ‘Value of bariatric surgery in the treatment of morbidly obese patients in Saudi Arabia’.
  • 2021 - current Cristobal Catalan, School of Arts and Creative Technologies. ‘Story-led Games for Mental Health’.
  • 2020 - current Michael Saiger, Department of Computer Science. ‘Applied Games for Treating Phobias in Children’.
  • 2019 - current Rebecca Haythorne, Department of Health Sciences. ‘Active recreation for adults with learning disabilities.’
  • 2016-2021 Robert Allison, PhD, Department of Health Sciences. ‘A tripartite relationship theory of voice hearing’

 

Other teaching

PhD Thesis Advisory & Progression Panel

  • 2024 – current: Aqsa Shafique, Health Sciences, based at Khyber Medical University Pakistan. ‘Depression in adolescents in Pakistan.’ Funded by the collaborative PhD Programme of the Centre for Impact South Asia.
  • 2024 – current: Dana Clemmensen, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology. ‘Online choirs and mental wellbeing’. Funded by White Rose College of Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH) Doctoral Training Partnership.
  • 2018 – 2022 Claudia Nader Jaime, Department of Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media. ‘Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR): Differential psychological and physiological responses according to sound format’.

Examination

  • Dec 2023 Internal Examiner (Viva Voce). Claudia Nader Jaime, PhD, University of York, School of Arts and Creative Technologies. ‘Sound formats in ASMR-inducing Media and their Effects in Youth Wellbeing’.
  • Nov 2023 Independent Chair (Viva Voce). Paulo Saldanha, PhD, University of Hull, Hull York Medical School. ‘Biochemical characterisation of the interaction of the myosin light chain phosphatase with the regulatory subunits of protein kinase A in cells of the circulatory system’.
  • Oct 2022 Internal Examiner (Viva Voce). Lauren Aylott, PhD, University of York, Hull York Medical School. ‘Assessing professionalism for the selection of mental health clinicians: the development and validation of a situational judgement test’.
  • Oct 2020 Internal Examiner (Viva Voce). Helen Ford, PhD, Department of Health Sciences, University of York. ‘What are the factors that mental health nurses use when deciding to give pro re nata medication for patient agitation?’
  • Oct 2019 Internal Examiner (Viva Voce). Sunaina Parsons, MD, University of York, Hull York Medical School. ‘The Trial That Goes Wrong: Application of the model of organizational accidents to understanding the failure of clinical trials: Case study of a UK public sector-funded clinical trial of an investigational medicinal product.’
  • Feb 2019 Internal Examiner (Prima Facie). Laura Manea, PhD by Published Work, Hull York Medical School, University of York. ‘Screening for major depressive disorder in non-psychiatric settings’

 

External activities

Editorial duties

 

Invited talks and conferences

Academic events (5 selected)

  • Nov 2023 ComBAT: Community-based Behavioural Activation Training for Depression in Adolescents. Online conference. Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
  • June 2023 ‘Technology and Mental Health for Children and Adolescents: Pros and Cons”. CAMH 2023 Lecture. Royal Society of Medicine, London.
  • Apr 2023 Community-based interventions for depression with children and adolescents: behavioural activation as a case in point. Stakeholder Meeting “Community-based Interventions Targeting Depression and Suicidal Behavior” European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD), Brussels, Belgium.
  • May 2022 COmBAT ready? A trial of Community-delivered Behavioural Activation Training for Depression in Adolescents. UK Child Psychiatry Research Society (CPRS) Meeting, Alcuin Research Resource Centre, York.
  • Mar 2022 Technology and the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health: The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent. [Webinar] [Online] Stanford Hubinar: COVID-19 and Technology Use. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine.

 Public events (5 selected)

  • Sept 2023 ‘Lean and Scalable Interventions in Mental Health’. GovConnect Annual Mental Health Conference 2023 "Delivering Collaborative Whole Pathways of Care", Royal Society of Medicine, London. https://youtu.be/C1SBpdYRp9Y?feature=shared.
  • June 2023 ‘Reimagining Healthcare: Treating the body and mind’ Panel discussant. King’s Manor, York. York Festival of Ideas.
  • May 2023 'From spiders and dogs, to vomit and needles: single-session phobia treatment for children and adolescents'. York Festival of Ideas, in collaboration with The Angel on the Green​.​
  • Jan 2023 'From spiders and dogs, to vomit and needles: single-session phobia treatment for children and adolescents' at YorkTalks 2023. York Talks, University of York, York, UK. https://youtu.be/k4lN4oxfbz0
  • Apr 2021 Effects of digital transformation on the psychology of workers and students during the pandemic [Webinar] [Online]. Digital Talks @DT&S: The Digital Transformation at work, in education, in our daily lives (translation from Greek). Cisco Digital Transformation and Skills (DT&S) and CITY College, University of York European Campus. Available at: https://youtu.be/2EUTPFvlzN0 (2021, 07 April, 00.01:34- 00.01:45).

 

Media coverage

Interviews and podcasts (5 selected)

Contact details

Professor Lina Gega
Professor of Mental Health

Tel: 01904 32(1870)

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