Dr Raff Calitri

About me:

Raff is a an experienced Trial Manager. He joined the Medical School in 2010 and has honed his trial management skills through involvement in a number of important RCTs, including:

i) the ReTrain trial - a pilot, feasibility trial of a community-based physical activity rehabilitation training programme for stroke survivors (CI Prof Sarah Dean)

ii) the SPA trial - a pilot, feasibility trial of singing groups for people with post stroke aphasia (CI Dr Mark Tarrant)

iii) the ESTEEM trial - a definitive, cluster RCT of telephone triage in General Practice (CI Prof John Campbell)

iv) the ERICA trial - a definitive cluster RCT of electronic risk assessment tools for cancer (CI Prof Willie Hamilton). The trial is currently ongoing. Please see the trial website for more information (http://www.theericatrial.co.uk/)

Raff holds a PhD in Social Psychology. In addition to his expertise in project management and designing and delivering randomised controlled trial, he also has significant experience conducting research in group and inter-group relations. He is currently working as a researcher on an NIHR funded programme grant - PROGROUP (joint Co-Is Prof Jon Pinkey (Plymouth) and Dr Mark Tarrant (Exeter) - which seeks to improve outcomes for patients with severe obesity through the optimisation of group processes in Tier 3 weight managment programmes. We will create a novel, group-based lifestyle behaviour change programme and subject it to a randomised controlled trial in order to test its clinical and cost-effectiveness (https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/primarycare/obesity/progroup).

Raff supports undergraduate and post graduate teaching at Exeter where he delivers seminars, small-group teaching, and project supervision on topics related to trial management, pilot/feasibility trials, research ethics, and issues involved in medical device trials, group processes in health research intervention. He is also co-supervisor for two PhD students:

Alex Burns - Uncertainty during potential cancer diagnosis in the ERICA trial (lead supervisor Prof Sarah Dean).

Laura Hollands - How to reduce loneliness in older adults using group interventions. Laura's PhD is a collaboration between the University of Exeter (co-lead supervisor Dr Mark Tarrant) and University of Queensland (co-lead supervisor Prof Cath Haslam).

Raff is also currently involved in an evaluation of the Stroke Association's Hand-in-Hand Peer Support Group programme (co-led by Mark Tarrant; Funded by the Stroke Association); with a key part of this work being an assessment of the group variables (e.g., social identity, group norms, social agency) that are involved in making groups work well for stroke survivors.

Interests:

• Management and Delivery of Randomised Controlled Trials
• Pilot Feasibility Trials
• Cluster Randomised Controlled Trials
• Stroke Rehabilitation
• Group and intergroup relations in Health and Wellbeing

Qualifications:

PhD Social Psychology

MSc Social & Applied Psychology

BSc (Hons) Cognitive Science