Our team
We are an interdisciplinary team with a focus on the duality of older people living and dying over a life long-lived – whose needs are currently often unrecognised and unmet. Our shared goal is to evidence and action the changes and interventions needed across integrated care to enable personalised care and support for older people to Live AND Die well.
Professor of Palliative Care and Ageing
Professor Caroline Nicholson
Caroline is a clinical academic nurse and is passionate in her belief that everyone should have access to the best care and support in the final years of their life. Her research programme seeks to evidence the person-centred palliative care needs and service response to support older people with complex care needs to live and die well. She is particularly interested in the transitions that occurs in the last phase of life and has a long-held interest in working with older people living with frailty; supporting their strengths and capabilities as well as current and future vulnerabilities.
c.nicholson@surrey.ac.uk01483 683 511
Dr Richard Green
Surrey Future Fellow
Richard was awarded a prestigious Surrey Future Fellowship in April 2023 to work with interdisciplinary colleagues from the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI and across the university to develop a programme of research on the use of ‘carebots’ (chatbots and other artificial technologies) to support the health and wellbeing of older adults. Prior to this role, Richard was working as a Research Fellow, project managing The PALLUP Study – Improving home based palliative care for frail elders and his current fellowship continues and extends his research on the health and wellbeing of older adults in later life.
richard.green@surrey.ac.uk
Dr Sarah Combes
Research Fellow
Sarah Combes is a Research Fellow in Palliative Care and Ageing at the University of Surrey and a specialist palliative care nurse at St Christopher’s Hospice in South London. As a clinical academic, Sarah is working to support and develop a programme of clinically applied, translational research, that supports people as they near the end of life, their loved ones, and health and social care professionals. Her work centres around palliative and end of life care for older people living with advancing frailty and multiple morbidities, with a particular interest in decision-making, workforce development and service improvement.
sarah.combes@surrey.ac.uk
Faith Howard
Postgraduate Research Student
Faith joined the University of Surrey in October 2021 as a postgraduate researcher. Her Ph.D. work will focus on those with frailty in end-of-life care. Working closely with the PALLUP study led by Prof Caroline Nicolson, Faith’s work will focus on the feasibility and acceptability of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for this patient group.
Faith has a background in nursing working in Oncology and community settings. More recently she has worked as a volunteer researcher at the Hospice in the Weald. Her current interests include community health, improving the quality of life for older adults, and developments in person-centered care.
f.howard@surrey.ac.uk