Sopna currently works as a research programme manager on the NIHR infrastructure grant for the Midlands Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC) and an NIHR RIGHT grant on Transforming the Treatment and Prevention of Leprosy and Buruli ulcers in LMICs. The PSRC grant aims to make care safer for patients by finding ways to ‘prevent’ errors in our two clinical themes – acute care and maternal health.
The Leprosy grant is working across three countries – India, Nepal and Nigeria – with the overall aim to improve self-care in the community for leprosy patients who are at risk of recurrent ulcers and further disfigurement and disability and to better understand the needs of patients with Buruli ulcer and the barriers to meeting those needs. The research programme also includes a clinical trial of a promising yet inexpensive tissue regenerative treatment for healing of ulcers. Sopna provides effective high-level project management for this research programme and is responsible for ensuring that the research programme runs smoothly and to a high standard, fulfilling all requirements of the funding body and leading to high quality research outputs.
Prior to re-joining the University of Birmingham, Sopna was invited to take up a post at Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar (WCM-Q) by a faculty member. Sopna worked as a Clinical Projects Manager in Clinical Research Core in the research division at WCM-Q. The role was to help develop clinical research within the College and lead clinical research teams in all aspects of completing research studies.
Sopna was responsible for collaborating on diverse research projects, both locally and internationally, assisting investigators with the design and preparation of new clinical study research proposals, monitoring progress of each clinical site and taking appropriate action to ensure good recruitment, compliance with the protocol and the quality and timeliness of the data collections.
Before moving to Qatar, Sopna worked at the University of Birmingham as a Project manager/research fellow responsible for different research studies and staff under the National Institute for Health Research funded Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs). The areas of research were type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and sleep apnoea.
Sopna’s research interests include chronic disease management, access to health care services and general clinical research management.