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

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)

Contact details

Professor Lina Gega
Professor of Mental Health

Tel: 01904 32(1870)

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