Welcome to the BAY team

Bernadka Dubicka is the Chief Investigator for the BAY study. Bernadka a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Hull and York Medical School, University of York, UK; an Honorary MAHSC Professor, University of Manchester; Editor in Chief of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health; and a practising psychiatrist in the Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, UK. She is also treasurer of the Union of European Medical Specialists CAP section, and was the recent chair of child and adolescent psychiatry, at the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), UK. Her career has integrated clinical, academic, media and policy expertise to highlight the importance of child mental health, reduce inequalities, and the need for preventative systems of care based on co-production with young people. Her research interests have focused on increasing access to evidence based interventions for adolescent depression, and she is currently leading a large depression trial (BAY). Recent policy interests include advisory work on the impact of technology and the ecological crisis on mental health, where she represented RCPsych at COP26 in Glasgow. 

Emma is a Trial Manager of the BAY Trial and Research Fellow based in the York Trials Unit at the University of York. Emma completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Masters degree in Development, Disorders and Clinical Practice at the University of York. Her main research interests include child and adolescent mental health, behavioural activation interventions, neurodiversity, and support for non-speaking autistic children. Before joining the University, Emma worked within the NHS based research team ‘Child Oriented Mental health Innovation Collaborative’. Here she worked on an NIHR HTA funded randomised controlled trial investigating the clinical and cost effectiveness of Social Stories for primary school aged autistic children  (ASSSIST2) and a feasibility study for a social prescribing intervention combining physical activity and psychoeducation for young people on mental health service waiting lists (Safety Nets) . Since joining the York Trials Unit, Emma has worked on multiple education trials and also coordinates the ComBAT trial (https://combatdepression.org/) which is a randomised controlled trial measuring the clinical and cost effectiveness of a behavioural activation intervention in community settings. Alongside working in research, Emma is a Group Leader at The Snappy Trust, a play provision service for young people with additional needs, neurodiversities and disabilities, and has been prominent in networking and communications. 

Emma will be responsible for oversight of all aspects of the trial and ensuring milestones are met to time and target, under the supervision of Prof Bernadka Dubicka. 

Rachel is one of the Trial Managers on the BAY study at the University of York and is responsible for the day to day running of the study alongside the wider BAY team. In addition, she also works on other child and adolescent mental health studies being run at the York Trials Unit. 

Her interests include developing evidence-based practice for mental health services for young people and their carers and ensuring process evaluations are carried out effectively to help strengthen the evaluation of an intervention and help improve future adaptations. 

She previously worked at UCL running drug trials in the haematology team and the Anna Freud Centre where she was involved in the coordination of two randomised controlled trials evaluating a psychological intervention for children with conduct disorder (START Trial) and problem sexual behaviour (STEPS-B).

Outside of research, Rachel enjoys live music and films as well as repeated attempts at the couch to 5k challenge.

Camila is the Trial Support Officer on the BAY study in the York Trials Unit at the University of York. Camila completed her undergraduate degree in Health Sciences at the Open University and Masters degree in Public Health at the University of York. She also works on a trial methodology programme focused on improving recruitment and retention in randomised control trials. Before joining the trials unit, Camila worked in data analysis in an education setting and has experience working in the NHS with mental health teams.

Catherine is the senior statistician on the BAY study.  Catherine is a Professor of Trials and Statistics, Co Director of York Trials Unit and Deputy Head of Department for Research with the Department of Health Sciences. Within the trials unit Catherine has responsibility for the quantitative portfolio and manages the team of statisticians, health economists, data managers, software developers and research group administrators. 

Alex is a statistician on the BAY study.  Alex joined the York Trials Unit in 2017, after completing undergraduate and postgraduate studies at King's College London and The University of Sheffield respectively. He has experience providing statistical support in a range of areas, including smoking cessation, orthopaedic surgery and diagnostic accuracy studies. He also works as an advisor for the Research Design Service, Yorkshire and Humber (RDS-YH).  

Penny is a Professor of Applied Mental Health at the University of Manchester, and the Director of Research and Innovation for the Division of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work in the School of Health Sciences. Her main research interests lie in the development and evaluation of innovative models of mental health service delivery. She has expertise in qualitative and mixed methods research, including coproduction and patient experience, and is the academic lead for the qualitative component of the BAY Trial.  

Gokce is a Research Associate in the University of Manchester and the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. In the BAY Trial, she works as a qualitative researcher under the supervision of Professor Penny Bee and supports finance management under the supervision of Professor Bernadka Dubicka.

Gokce completed her undergraduate degree in Guidance and Psychological Counselling, and her Master and PhD in Educational Psychology at Ankara University. She had started to work as a school counsellor/guidance teacher in her home country in 2010. After that, she worked as a research assistant, respectively, in the Division of Guidance and Psychological Counselling at Amasya University, the Division of Educational Psychology at Ankara University, and the Division of Psychology and Mental Health at the University of Manchester. Then, she continued working as a research associate in the Perinatal Mental Health and Parenting Research Unit at the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust until involving in the BAY Trial. Throughout her research assistant/associate roles, she was involved in many research and teaching activities. For more information, please feel free to visit Gokce’s research profile’.  

Jess is an Assistant Clinical Research Practitioner (ACRP) working for Greater Manchester Mental Health. She works for multiple research units in Research and Innovation where she recruits potential participants for the clinical trials. She has completed her Masters of Science Degree in Forensic Psychology and has experience working with young people, prison populations, and a host of other clinical and forensic client groups.

Stephanie is a Research Assistant at GMMH for the BAY Trial.  She completed her BSc in Neuroscience at the University of Texas and went on to work as a research assistant at Dell Medical school for the Childhood Trauma Research Network and the Youth Depression and Suicide Research Network, where she helped with recruitment and conducting clinical assessments. After two years she moved to the UK and completed an MSc in Psychology and Education at The University of Sheffield. Throughout, her main research interests have been in Childhood trauma and suicidality.  In her free time Stephanie takes ballet classes and loves baking.

Jindrinch joined the Digital Health Software in 2021 as a Software Engineer. Prior to that he worked as a mobile and full-stack developer in the sports performance management sector which ignited his interest in health and wellbeing and lead him to join this team. Jindrinch has been involved in various projects within the team, currently working on the implementation of the web application for the Bay project.