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Cynthia Srikesavan (Chair)
Physiotherapist - London
Cynthia currently works as a Senior Researcher in Physiotherapy at the University of Oxford. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in physiotherapy in 1998 in India. She then worked in different teaching capacities alongside clinical responsibilities in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Gujarat in India for around nine years. She also completed her MSc and MPhil in Psychology and a Masters degree in Physiotherapy before moving to Canada for higher studies. Cynthia was awarded a PhD in Applied Health Sciences from the University of Manitoba, Canada in 2015 for a mixed-method study on a computer game-based hand exercise programme for people with rheumatoid arthritis or hand osteoarthritis.
Cynthia began working at the University of Oxford in June 2015 in a postdoctoral capacity. Her main research areas are hand rehabilitation in arthritis conditions, implementation, digital health interventions, and musculoskeletal patient-reported outcome measures. She is trained in conducting quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research studies, systematic reviews, and clinical trials.
Cynthia has published her research work in peer-reviewed journals and has also presented at various national and international physiotherapy conferences including the World Physiotherapy Congress. She is passionate about high-quality healthcare evidence and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in research. She is a keen supporter and contributor of the Cochrane collaboration and PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database). Cynthia joined the CEC in 2020, becoming chair in 2021.
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Work profile
Victoria Jansen
Physiotherapist – Derby

Victoria graduated as a physiotherapist in 1996, and initially specialised in burns, plastics and trauma working in the Burns units at Roehampton, and East Grinstead as well as abroad in Auckland, New Zealand and Singapore. Victoria has worked in the Pulvertaft Hand Centre, in Derby since 2000, and her caseload includes both acute hand trauma and chronic conditions. Victoria has a dual role as both a senior hand therapist and a researcher.
Victoria’s special interest is in the therapy management of hand OA and wrist pain, with thumb OA being the focus of her current research activity. She has presented her research at national (BAHT) and international conferences (IFSSH and EFSSH) and published her work in peer reviewed journals.
In 2014, she was awarded a HEE/NIHR ICA Programme Masters Studentship and completed a Master’s in Research Methods at the University of Nottingham.
Victoria joined the CEC in 2017 and chaired the committee from 2019-2021. Victoria is committed to continuing to support members to develop the knowledge base for the conditions we treat, and the evidence base for hand therapy practice.
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Donna Kennedy
Occupational Therapist – London
Donna is a hand therapist and Senior Clinical Academic for Occupational Therapy at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. She completed an NIHR HEE funded PhD in Pain Research at Imperial College London in 2018. Currently, she is an NIHR Imperial BRC postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College, investigating reporting of scar outcomes. Donna completing a BSc at Tufts University in 1984 and an MSc at the University of East Anglia in 2009 and has been a certified hand therapist (CHT) since 1992. She has practiced hand therapy in various healthcare settings in the U.S. and has worked in the NHS since 2002. She has published her work in peer-reviewed journals and presented internationally. Her research focusses on evaluation, treatment, and outcome of painful conditions in the hand and upper limb. She is passionate about promoting excellence in hand therapy, both in clinical care and research.
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Work profile
Suzanne Beale
Occupational Therapist – Birmingham
Suzanne qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1991 and has specialised in Hand Therapy since 1996. Suzanne currently works as a Clinical Specialist Hand Therapist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Hand (QEHB), starting this role in 2001.
Since 2015, Suzanne has also worked as an academic research therapist within the Hand and Peripheral Nerve Service at QEHB. Suzanne’s specialist interest is within the peripheral nerve injury service, specifically the assessment and treatment of nerve and tendon transfers. Other interests include patient education and post-graduate training of therapists within hand therapy.
Suzanne completed a Masters in Hand Therapy at Derby University in 2005. Suzanne joined the BAHT CEC in 2016 and is keen to support the further development of research in the clinical workplace.
Jenny Lane
Specialist Registrar in Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery – Oxford
Jenny sits as the BSSH Research Committee representative on the BAHT clinical evidence committee. She graduated from medicine at Exeter College Oxford before undertaking basic surgical training in London. She returned to Oxford in 2014 as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow and specialist registrar in Trauma and Orthopaedic surgery. Jenny was awarded a Versus Arthritis clinical research fellowship and MRC doctoral training fellowship in 2017, and is currently undertaking a PhD in Biomedical Data Science. Her research interests are in surgical and device epidemiology, using routinely collected data and prospective cohort studies to improve surgical care. She works with UK and internationally based datasets, evaluating factors associated with developing hand conditions and is part of the OHDSI network of observational data scientists, undertaking studies that can be replicated worldwide through collaborative research.
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Work profile
Catherine Rolls
Physiotherapist – Bristol
Cat completed an undergraduate degree in Biological Science at Oxford University in 2003 and subsequently graduated from Kings College London in 2006 with an MSc in Physiotherapy. She has been working as a Hand Therapist since 2012. Cat has worked predominantly in the NHS and has a strong background in orthopaedic trauma, with an interest in compression neuropathies of the upper limb. Cat continues to work in a clinical capacity at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.
In 2018 Cat was awarded an HEE/NIHR internship to conduct a systematic literature review into the incidence of CRPS after wrist fracture. This work has been published in Hand Therapy. Cat followed this with an Above and Beyond charity research grant to look at local CRPS pathways. She is currently undertaking an NIHR Pre-Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (PCAF) with a focus of persistent pain after wrist fracture.
Cat joined the BAHT CEC in 2020 and is keen to support hand therapists interested in starting a career in clinical academia.
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