About us

Meet the multi-disciplinary team delivering the research. Clinical academics, research professionals and experts by lived experience, have come together to make GlobalMinds a reality.

Akrivia Health

Akrivia Health is a mental health research company responsible for running the GlobalMinds programme.

The company originated from studies run by an NHS doctor and a University of Oxford researcher. They shared the vision that research using data collected routinely by the NHS holds the key to transforming treatment and care for people with mental health conditions.

In 2019, Akrivia Health became a company to provide data sciences services to accelerate research into mental health and dementias.

Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement (PPIE)

People are at the core of GlobalMinds.

Akrivia Health have a diverse Public and Patient involvement and Engagement (PPIE) group that works within GlobalMinds to ensure patient voice is prominent throughout. Patients and people with lived experience of mental health conditions have been and continue to be actively involved in shaping the GlobalMinds study. Lived experience perspectives have shaped the study design and recruitment approaches, and are involved in monitoring recruitment, reviewing applications from researchers to use the GlobalMinds anonymised data, supporting outreach into communities.

If you are interested in learning more about our PPIE group, or joining it, we would love to hear from you - contact.globalminds@akriviahealth.com

The GlobalMinds team

Professor James Walters

Chief Investigator- Professor James Walters is a clinical consultant for Akrivia and professor and director of Cardiff University’s Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics. Professor Walters’ main area of research interest is psychosis and schizophrenia, in particular, the cognitive impairments related to these conditions, and the role played by genetics. As Chief Investigator, James oversees the safe conduct of the GlobalMinds study.

Byron Tibbitts

Operational Lead- Byron is Head of Programmes at Akrivia Health, and operational lead for GlobalMinds within Akrivia, the organisation driving this ground-breaking programme. Byron’s background in public health research delivery started in 2009 at the Medical Research Council, followed by more than a decade at the University of Bristol developing and evaluating interventions designed to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities.

Dr Samantha Yuille

Project Manager- Samantha is a PhD qualified clinical trial manager, trained in the west of Scotland, with 10+ years' experience in drug discovery and development across a range of indications including neurodegenerative disorders, psychosis, oncology and infectious diseases. Sam leads the study team managing GlobalMinds, ensuring its rigorous conduct, high quality, and data validity.