Tracy Callen

My role

Hello, my name is Tracy; I am a Clinical Research Assistant. I assist clinicians to delivery research studies in Adult Mental Health, Physiotherapy, Paediatrics and primary care.

My responsibilities

I assist in recruiting participants to current studies, and maintain and ensure all study documentation is up to date and following study protocols.

My background

Before starting my career in the NHS, I worked in a variety of roles, including: a Sterile Technician at a local Pharmaceutical Company, a Senior Laboratory Technician in three different schools and a Resource Manager at a specialist science college.

When I first started working for the NHS, I joined a clinical trials team at University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. I subsequently moved on to work as a Clinical Trials Assistant at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and finally landed my current role at Solent NHS Trust in 2015.

Why I love my job

Engaging with patients and the wider healthcare community is a really fulfilling aspect of my role. I work with a great team and I feel as though I’m able to help make a difference to the future of healthcare. I have also enjoyed the opportunity to set up and run a study by myself.

More about me

I am married with four adult children and four adult step-children, a grandson and two granddaughters. I love all things VW - I have a campervan that I like traveling in and a 1969 VW Beetle. I am quite a petrol head and I have raced on the local chalk track in non-contact as well as contact races and have raced in Holland in a three-wheel Nissan Micra my husband built. In my spare time I focus on learning and delivering holistic therapies.

Current projects/research studies

100,000 Genome Project - Rare diseases in children providing clinical diagnosis and in time, new or more effective treatments for NHS Patients. 

Consent & Confidentiality in Genomic Medicine- Improve future communication between healthcare professionals and families.

Scimitar+ - Smoking Cessation Study for people with severe mental ill health.

Lifestyle, Health and Wellbeing – Collecting valuable up to date information on the health and wellbeing of people with severe mental ill health.

DPIM – DNA Polymorphism In Mental Illness – genetic study

Voice Impact Scale (VIS) - to understand the impact hearing voices can have on people.

Triumph - Treatment and Recovery in Psychosis.

Published work

Successful recruitment to trials: findings from the SCIMITAR+ Trial

Gilbody S., Callen T., Smith, K. et al. Smoking cessation for people with severe mental illness(SCIMITAR+): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial. Lancet Psychiatry