معرفی
Professor Hilary L Bekker is a Professor of Medical Decision Making at the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, within the Faculty of Medicine and Health. She is also affiliated with the Institute of Health Sciences (LIHS) and holds a leadership role at the Research Unit of Patient Involvement Interventions, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Denmark, where she leads the Research Centre for Patient Involvement in Central Denmark Region.
Her educational background includes:
- BSc in Psychology (First Class), 1990
- MSc in Health Psychology, 1994
- PhD in Decision Making and Prenatal Testing, 1999
Hilary is a Chartered Psychologist (BPS, 1999) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2004). She has held academic positions since 1988, joining the University of Leeds in 2001 as a Lecturer in Behavioural Science and being promoted to a personal Chair in 2016.
Her research centers on understanding how patients and health professionals make healthcare decisions, identifying factors that influence these decisions, and developing interventions that support informed, shared decision-making. She integrates methods from decision sciences, health psychology, and health services research to design and evaluate complex interventions that promote patient involvement. Her work emphasizes collaboration with patients, clinicians, and methodologists to ensure practical, evidence-based outcomes. Key outputs include patient decision aids, training resources, and validated self-report questionnaires.
Due to the dynamic interface provided, specific article titles and publication details are not extractable from the current text; however, her research portfolio is extensive and publicly accessible via Google Scholar, ORCID, and ResearchGate.
Notable scientific contributions and recognitions include:
- Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society (1999)
- Fellow, Higher Education Academy (2004)
- Active contributor to the International Patient Decision Aids Standards (IPDAS) collaboration since 2003
- Advisor to NICE, NHS Right Care, and Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO)
- Service on committees for the Society of Medical Decision Making (2016–2019), NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (2014–2016), and BPS Division of Health Psychology (1996–2004)
Hilary has played significant leadership roles in medical education, including Head of Year 1 MBChB (2013–2020), Lead for Student Education in LIHS (2017–2020), and Co-Chair of the ENQUIRE strand in the MBChB program (2020–2025). She has designed and delivered health psychology and medical decision-making modules for nursing, midwifery, medical, and psychology students across multiple institutions including University College London, University of York, and University of Leeds.
She leads the Research Centre for Patient Involvement, which focuses on co-producing decision support tools and interventions with patients and clinicians. The center works on developing and evaluating patient decision aids for conditions such as multiple sclerosis, kidney disease, cancer, and fertility. Her team also develops measurement instruments like the SHARED questionnaire and OPTIQ, contributing to the evaluation of shared decision-making processes in clinical settings.
