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Amelia Hollywood

Headshot of Amelia Hollywood with countryside in the background
  • Module Convener for MPAS Year 1 Module

Areas of interest

Dr Hollywood's research interests have primarily focused on obesity by facilitating behaviour change and weight loss maintenance. She has conducted research that has focused on the medical management of obesity, specifically exploring pharmacological and surgical methods in terms of adherence, beliefs and behaviour. More recently Dr Hollywood has focussed more broadly on applied health research, with particular interest in patient-centred care and pain.

With a wide range of research interests; using both quantitative (e.g. health data and questionnaires) and qualitative methods (e.g. interviews and focus groups), collaborators and prospective PhD students can email Dr Hollywood directly with initial research proposals for further discussion.

Postgraduate supervision

Current PhD students:

  • Abrar Alzouby. Bariatric surgery.
  • Anisha Lad. Cancer clinical trials in the UK.
  • Farhan Ahmad. Factors underlying haemodialysis arteriovenous fistula maturation.
  • Mohamed Obiedalla. Drug Shortages in the UK.
  • Ravina Barrett. Pharmaco-epidemiological methods in community pharmacy.

Past PhD students:

  • Melika Kalantari (2023). The Experiences of People Living with Achalasia.
  • Holly Baker (2022). Panic disorder in adolescents.
  • Flavia Ghouri (2021). Behavioural insights into tackling antimicrobial resistance and urinary tract infections in pregnancy.
  • Maryam Alkandari (2020). The Experiences of People Living with Peripheral Neuropathy in Kuwait.

Teaching

Dr Hollywood delivers research-informed teaching primarily on the MPAS and Pharmacy programmes, but also teaches throughout the University including sessions at the Graduate School and Institute of Education. This expertise has also contributed to a Future Learn online course, Nutrition for Health and Sustainability, which is available to access for free here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/nutrition-for-health

Research centres and groups

Internal roles:

  • Women@Reading Network Steering Group
  • Pain Research Reading Steering Group
  • Sport for Academic Purposes Network

External roles:

  • Honorary Research Fellow, Royal Berkshire Hospital
  • External Examiner for the MSc Health Psychology programme, Kings College London
  • Editorial Board Member, British Journal of Health Psychology
  • Chair for the Standing Conference Scientific Committee, Division of Health Psychology, British Psychological Society (2023-2025)
  • External Examiner for the iBSc Psychology programme, Kings College London (2021-2024)

Research projects

Project: Dissociative or functional seizures in the Emergency Department: exploring the patient experience.
Collaborators: Amelia Hollywood, Salini Zaini, Sarah Wilson, Liza Keating, Richard Armstrong, Dawn Golder, Markus Reuber.
Funding: Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

Project: Pain assessment in the Emergency Department.
Collaborators: Amelia Hollywood, Liza Keating, Sarah Wilson.
Funding: Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and University of Reading Health Innovation Partnership: Collaboration Innovation Fund.

Project: A feasibility study assessing the impact of treatment options on health-related quality of line in patients with benign thyroid nodules.
Collaborators: Amelia Hollywood, Farhan Ahmad, Rogan Corbridge, Matthew Gibson, Mark Little, Tom Rourke.
Funding: British Society of Interventional Radiology.

Project: Thyroid artery goitre embolization trial.
Collaborators: Amelia Hollywood, Farhan Ahmad, Mark Little, Sidhartha Nagala.
Funding: British Society of Interventional Radiology.

Project: Measuring the impact of a remote perioperative health coaching programme on long-term functional outcomes in elective lower limb arthroplasty: a randomised controlled trial.
Collaborators: Amelia Hollywood, Robbie Huddleston, Martyn Ezra, Luke Eastwood, Susan Edge.
Funding: NIHR Invention for Innovation.

Background

Dr Hollywood is a Health Psychologist within the School of Pharmacy at the University of Reading. She joined the University in June 2016 having previously worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey and a Research Assistant at the IoPPN, Kings College London. Dr Hollywood completed a PhD on people's experiences of taking orlistat, an obesity medication, and has since conducted a range of research including that with students, academics and patients. She has completed two NIHR Research for Patient Benefit funded projects; one exploring a Bariatric Rehabilitation Service and the other exploring the impact of an investment based intervention on bariatric patients.

Professional bodies/affiliations

  • Chartered Member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
  • Member of the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology.
  • Practitioner Psychologist and Health Psychologist, Health and Care Professions Council

Publications

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