Dr Charlotte Fitzhugh, BSc, MSc, PhD

Profile

I joined Queen Mary University of London in September 2026 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Applied Health Research within the Centre for Preventive Neurology at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health. My research interests span health psychology, behavioural medicine and applied health research, with a particular interest in using mixed methods to understand and improve the prevention, management and delivery of care for people with long-term health conditions.

I completed my PhD at Liverpool John Moores University, where my research focused on lifestyle medicine for the secondary prevention of atrial fibrillation. My doctoral research used a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, including epidemiological analyses, a feasibility randomised controlled trial and process evaluation, to explore lifestyle behaviours, exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation and patient and healthcare professional experiences.

I currently work on FOCUS-NHS, an NIHR-funded research programme examining the introduction and use of biosimilar medicines for multiple sclerosis within the NHS. My work focuses on mixed-methods process evaluation, exploring how biosimilars are implemented, communicated and experienced in routine clinical practice.

Research

Research Interests:

I use mixed methods to understand and improve the prevention, management and delivery of care for people with long-term health conditions. My research draws on health psychology and behavioural medicine, with experience across quantitative, qualitative and intervention-based research.

I research a range of topics including:

• Lifestyle medicine and behaviour change in long-term health conditions.
• Cardiovascular health and the secondary prevention of atrial fibrillation.
• Exercise and cardiac rehabilitation.
• Patient and healthcare professional experiences of healthcare interventions and service delivery.
• Implementation and process evaluation of complex healthcare interventions.
• The implementation, communication and use of biosimilar medicines in multiple sclerosis.
• Mixed-methods approaches to understanding and improving healthcare delivery.

Publications

Life's essential 8 score and 10-year cardiovascular outcomes in atrial fibrillation: A UK biobank analysis with simulated lifestyle improvement

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpc.2025.101399

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for patients with atrial fibrillation receiving catheter ablation: protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial (RCT) with embedded process evaluation

Link: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088460

Exercise based cardiac rehabilitation for atrial fibrillation: Cochrane systematic review, meta-analysis, meta-regression and trial sequential analysis

Link: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2025/07/23/bjsports-2024-109149