Maria is a Chartered Psychologist and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster. She trained and worked as a nurse before completing BSc (Hons) Psychology. She completed her PhD on Reducing anxiety in patients undergoing medical procedures at University College London (UCL).
She worked at the Clinical Risk Unit, UCL, where she was involved in a number of projects on clinical risk management. She was the project manager of the widely cited Adverse events in British hospitals study and worked on the Health Technology Assessments (HTA) project: a review of methods used for the investigation and analysis of critical incidents and adverse events in healthcare.
She then moved to Imperial College London and was involved in a range of projects on patient safety including: incident reporting and communication in the Emergency Department; stress and coping strategies used by surgeons; the assessment of medication error; and a review of risks in care of the elderly. In 2007 she set up and was course leader for the MSc in Quality and Safety in Healthcare and was a member of the Expert Working Group on Education and Training in Patient Safety Research, World Alliance for Patient Safety, World Health Organization.
Since joining the University of Westminster, Maria has worked with colleagues in psychology (School of Social Sciences) and with the nutrition team (School of Life Sciences) both in relation to teaching and research. She supervises UG, PG and Doctoral research projects.
