معرفی
Lina Gega is Professor of Mental Health at Hull York Medical School and Honorary Nurse Consultant in Psychological Therapies at Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Trust. As Inaugural Director, she established the Institute of Mental Health Research at the University of York spanning over 20 academic departments across life sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Her leadership extends to chairing the University's Children and Young People’s Mental Health Policy Research Group and serving on key committees including the Student Fitness to Practice Committee.
Her educational background includes:
- PhD in Health Services Research, King’s College London
- BN (Hons) Nursing Studies, University of Nottingham
- BA (Hons) Adult Behavioural Psychotherapy, Sheffield Hallam University
- PGCert Behavioural Psychotherapeutic Studies, Sheffield Hallam University & Sheffield Community Health NHS Trust
Lina’s pioneering research focuses on child and adolescent mental health through lean, scalable interventions across health services, schools, and communities, and digital mental health examining clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of technology-enabled solutions. Her work bridges clinical trials of psychological interventions with knowledge translation from research to practice. She has secured £22 million from UK Research Councils (20 projects), £1.5 million from charities, and €7 million from Horizon Europe.
Her influential publications reveal evolving trends toward digital therapeutics validation (evidenced by virtual environments for anxiety disorders and computer games for phobia treatment), real-world implementation science (ComBAT community-based depression program), and policy-relevant evidence synthesis (CODI cost-effectiveness studies). Recent work increasingly integrates cross-sector collaboration, as seen in police workforce mental health projects and EU-wide crisis response frameworks.
Lina’s significant contributions include:
- Joint Editorship of Child and Adolescent Mental Health journal
- NIHR Mental Health Research Groups funding committee membership
- NICE clinical expert advisory role
- Editorial leadership for 3 special journal issues on digital mental health
As a dedicated mentor, she has supervised 10 PhD students, examined 11 doctorates, and mentored 8 post-doctoral fellows. Her research leadership drives the Mental Health and Addiction Research Group (MHARG), COMIC, and Digital Creativity Labs. Current initiatives include the £11 million NIHR Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research and Horizon-funded Mentbest project across 10 European countries.
