Mr Rahul Alam - personal details

Rahul is a nutritionist by background with an interest in the self-management of chronic conditions. In particular he is interested in the various components of the metabolic syndrome including obesity and diabetes.

Early in his career he explored the roles of micronutrient and the macronutrient effects on satiety, human feeding behaviour and obesity. He continued this work at the University of Leeds where he gained experience working on an international multicentre study investigating factors affecting human susceptibility and resistance to weight gain on a high fat diet . He has also undertaken voluntary relief work in rural Bangladesh to alleviate malnutrition  and the spread of disease in the aftermath of natural disasters.
 

More recently, Rahul’s work has focused on type 2 diabetes, with an emphasis on improving patient self-management and psychological well-being. He has been involved in a number of trials funded by the Department of Health, MRC and Diabetes UK which included; (i) training and delivering psychological interventions  to healthcare professionals; (ii) assessing structured patient education programmes and (iii) undertaking health needs assessment for ethnic minority groups living with type 2 diabetes. During his time at Warwick Medical School, Rahul developed a strong interest in user involvement, patient centred care and in the provision of health care services to meet the needs of diverse populations.

In 2009 Rahul joined the “Health Care Services” research theme of the Manchester Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC). He is part of a multi-disciplinary team of clinical and social scientists with expertise in randomised controlled trials, user group involvement, qualitative methodology, systematic reviewing and experience of working with ethnic minority communities. The project aims to develop and test new models of care with a focus on improving access to vascular health care services for the inhabitants of Greater Manchester with a particular focus on improving access for ethnic minority groups who are at higher risk of developing vascular disease.

As part of the CLAHRC, Rahul is also a PhD student investigating access to healthcare information and services for British Bangladeshis living with type 2 diabetes.

• Professional Member Diabetes UK
• Professional Member United Kingdom Society of Behavioural Medicine
• Member of the British Sociological Association
• Executive Member of the Hyndburn Bangladeshi Welfare Association

BSc (Hons).,  Biomedical Sciences (UCLAN)

M.Med.Sci., Master of Medical Sciences in Human Nutrition (Sheffield)

Research Associate for the Health Care Services Research Theme of the Manchester Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) and PhD Student.

• BNurs (Years 1 & 2); Introduction to Community Health Care