DrAusten El-Osta

I am Director of the Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) & Primary Care Research Manager at the School of Public Health. I'm also supporting the WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education & Training, the NIHR Healtth-Technology Research Centre (HRC), the West London Research Network (WeLReN), Imperial Research Hub & Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) Directorate of Public Health & Primary Care in the same capacity.

I am chair of the Research Trailbazers Group, a Global Expert Mission (GEM) on Digital Health Technologies with Innovate UK & PI of >100 research studies, including the largest global studies on Loneliness, Trust in AI, Research Inclusion & the Impact of exposure of misinformaiton on self-care & wellbeing. 

My principal aim is to widen access & participation in research & to help accelerate the widespread adoption & diffusion of evidence-based health & wellbeing interventions, with a particular focus on leveraging self-care, lifestyle medicine & self-driven healthcare approaches. Prior to assuming this role, I was based at Guy’s Hospital where I worked in a similar capacity within the NIHR Clinical Research Network. My earlier career spanned a number of disparate fields including molecular & cell biology, vision research, laser-tissue interaction & medical device engineering.

The Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) 
SCARU is a tripartite collaboration between Imperial School of Public Health, the Self-Care Forum & the International Self-Care Foundation where I am also Director & Trustee. SCARU will explore how the application of self-care could result in improved outcomes & lower dependency on scarce health & care resources, whilst also identifying key evidence-based recommendations to policymakers. The Unit will act as a hub with the aim of making the absolute case for self-care by coordinating a wide portfolio of research activity.

RESUMÉ
I hold a Doctorate in Medicine from King’s College London, a Masters in Lifestyle Medicine (ongoing) from the University of Thessaly, a Masters in Public Administration from the London South Bank University, an MSc in Pathology & Virology from Imperial & a BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics from Queen Mary University of London. I was awarded Chartered Manager (C.Mgr) status by the Chartered Management Institute but failed miserably at becoming a certified PRINCE2 practitioner.

The Master & the Apprentice
I am an expert patient with ADHD- a condition that my mentors helped me leverage as a superpower. The three figures that shaped me the most are my father, the fictitious Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Startship Enterprise & Professor John Marshall (my PhD & post-doctoral research supervisor).

I'm otherwise fascinated with bees, honey & apitherapy. I continue to be inspired by Bach's reverential French Suites & Partitas, and consider Martha Argerich, Daniil Trifonov, Khatia Buniatishvili, Yuja Wang & Mariam Batsashvili as the most formidable pianists alive today. I also have a lot of admiration for the veritable Andras Schiff. The rest is noise.

"If you have no honey in your pot, have some in your mouth" (Benjamin Franklin).