Dr Helen Higham

Biography

Dr Helen Higham is a Consultant Anaesthetist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.  She is an Associate Professor in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Director of the Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research Centre (OxSTaR) which opened in 2008. She is a founding member and past president of the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare, a UK organisation promoting simulation for use in training and healthcare systems analysis.

She has always had a keen interest in medical education and has been the Director of Undergraduate Teaching in the Nuffield Division of Anaesthetics since she took up her post in 2001. In 2015 she co-founded the Patient Safety Academy (with Professor Peter McCulloch) with the primary aim of providing courses on human factors and quality improvement for healthcare professionals across Thames Valley and beyond.

Research and teaching

Helen is also active as a researcher and in 2018 completed her DPhil investigating the significance and impact of situation awareness in medical practice. She heads an active research group including four DPhil students, two post-doctoral researchers and four simulation fellows, with specific interests in patient safety, clinical education and teamwork in healthcare.