Research Professor and Programme Leader

Prevention of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders in High Risk Groups

Amy Ahern is a Research Professor and Programme Leader for the Prevention of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders in High Risk Groups. Her research focuses on the development and evaluation of interventions to prevent and treat obesity and diabetes, with an emphasis on translating understanding of the psychology of eating behaviour and weight management into scalable cost-effective interventions that have sustained effects on behaviour and improve mental and physical health. Amy leads a portfolio of experimental, observational, and qualitative studies, including large randomised controlled trials with long-term follow up.

Amy is Chief Investigator of the Weight Loss Referrals in Primary Care (WRAP) trial, the Glucose Lowering through Weight Management (GLoW) trial, and the Supporting Weight Management during COVID (SWIM COVID) trial. Data from these trials is available for secondary data analysis, on request. Amy led a recently completed NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research to develop and evaluate scalable behavioural weight management programmes for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes This programme of research included the development and feasibility evaluation of a new acceptance-based behavioural programme to support weight loss maintenance (SWiM). She is currently leading an NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research to further refine and evaluate the equity and cost-effectiveness of SWiM.