Esra Hassan

Esra is a research fellow working on the NIHR Policy Research Unit for Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis.

Esra is an interdisciplinary, quantitative researcher with a background in dementia, public health, clinical neuroscience, and psychology. She did her PhD at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Centre for Dementia Studies. Her research focused on the determinants of dementia attitudes in young people, with the aim of identifying targets for public health intervention (modifiable factors and at-risk socio-demographic groups). Her work involved using structural equation modelling to understand the mediatory mechanisms driving dementia attitudes. 

Esra also holds an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience from the University of Roehampton. Her MSc dissertation was based in molecular cancer biology, and explored the role of HOXA9 in mediating PARPi (Temozolomide and Olaparib) resistance in glioblastoma multiforme. 

Outside of research, Esra has been actively involved in outreach for the past 10 years. Examples include being a mentor for the Diana Award for their social action programme for schools, STEM ambassador, and other global social action projects in the humanitarian sector.