Our guest speaker.

Dr Esther Hobson, BMBCh PhD, Senior Lecturer in Neurology, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neurosciences, University of Sheffield and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Esther Hobson is a consultant neurologist at the Sheffield MND Care and Research Centre and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield. She completed an NIHR funded doctoral research fellowship in 2017 which developed and tested the TiM-C (telehealth in motor neurone disease) digital service and has been involved in its national roll out and evaluation alongside the TiM-Research platform.

She is the UK MND Research Institute Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement and EDI lead. Her research interests are in developing, testing and implementing treatments and services for people with MND within the NHS including digital technology, respiratory and secretion management.

Undertaking her medical training at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge University and Green College, Oxford University, followed by junior doctor training in Oxfordshire and South Yorkshire, Dr Hobson became a neurology registrar at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in 2010. Dr Hobson entered the NIHR academic training programme, completing an NIHR doctoral research fellowship and PhD between 2014 and 2017 before becoming an NIHR clinical

lecturer and later a senior lecturer.

Dr Hobson is a member of the motor neuron disorders clinical studies group at the NIHR Sheffield BRC led by Professor Pamela Shaw and Professor Chris McDermott and also is a course co-lead for the MSc in Clinical Neurology at the University of Sheffield. She supervises undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral research students.

Her core aim of research is on improving the quality and standard of care provided to people living with long-term neurological conditions, both patients and their family and carers. She is particularly interested in complex interventions, digital technology, and evidence-based care. She has experience in randomised controlled trials of therapies including novel genetic therapies as well as feasibility and implementation studies of complex interventions. She used mixed method approaches as well as person-centred design to ensure users are at the heart of effective NHS services.

As chief investigator on a 12-site UK trial funded by the NIHR, Dr Esther Hobson tests intensive initiation and optimisation of non-invasive ventilation using digital technology and ACT-informed psychology interventions. You can

find more details at: DENIM – Delivering Effective Non-Invasive ventilation in Motor Neuron Disease.

We believe that if people with MND receive extra monitoring and support from their clinical team during the first few months of using NIV, it will help people use NIV more effectively, which will help people live longer and feel better.