Priya Sugavanam

Priya Sugavanam is a Senior Research Associate at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM) within the University of Oxford's Medical Sciences Division. She joined OCDEM in September 2023 to lead an NIHR-funded project developing interventions for shift work sleep disorder among NHS workers. Her career spans multiple Oxford research units including the Health Services Research Unit (HSRU) and Rehabilitation Research Group (RRIO), alongside prior roles at the Peninsula CLAHRC (University of Plymouth) and Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

Her educational background includes:

• Bachelor of Physiotherapy from SRIPMS, Tamilnadu, India
• Master of Physiotherapy from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
• Doctor of Physiotherapy from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh (focused on person-centred goal setting for stroke rehabilitation)

Priya's research integrates health services methodology with clinical physiotherapy expertise. She specializes in mixed methods approaches to evaluate healthcare systems, with particular emphasis on integrated care models, quality improvement frameworks, and patient-centered rehabilitation interventions. Her work consistently addresses practical NHS challenges through projects on core outcome sets, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy meta-analyses, and back pain management programs.

Current and recent publications reveal strong thematic continuity in healthcare system evaluation and rehabilitation science. Her 2023-2025 work shows increasing focus on Integrated Care Systems implementation while maintaining expertise in musculoskeletal conditions and patient experience measurement.

Priya operates within the Ray Group research team at OCDEM, leveraging collaborative networks across Oxford's medical divisions. Her NIHR-funded project represents active grant support for innovative workforce health solutions, building on extensive experience with major healthcare evaluation initiatives including the Back Skills Training programme implementation.