Email: katarzyna.gajewska@ucc.ie

Kate is a Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health in RCSI: University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Postgraduate Researcher in the School of Public Health, University College Cork. She is involved in the EPICC project led by prof. Patricia Kearney as a Knowledge Broker. In 2020 Kate has been awarded a PhD degree for thesis: “Accessing insulin pump therapy by adults with type 1 diabetes in Ireland: A multiphase mixed methods study” conducted as part of the HRB SPHeRE Programme. Her disseminations include papers investigating type 1 diabetes and its epidemiology; uptake of insulin pump therapy; availability of insulin pumps in Irish diabetes clinics; and barriers and facilitators to accessing this technology in Ireland. Her research interest in diabetes brought her to join the HSE National Clinical Program in Diabetes working group.

Prior to conducting her PhD, Kate worked as a research data manager in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, in Dublin, and as a psychologist and diabetes educator in an outpatient diabetes clinic in Warsaw, Poland. She completed MSc in Clinical Psychology in 2010, and received a Postgraduate Award in Mixed Methods for Health Services Research. Kate’s research interests include diabetes, mainly type 1 diabetes, it’s epidemiology, determinants of (barriers and facilitators to) access to technology in diabetes care, health and well-being of people with chronic illnesses, as well as health-services research and its role in improving health, outcomes and quality of care. She is the author of peer-reviewed publications, educational materials, she presents as a speaker at international and national conferences, and actively engage in patient advocacy and scientific organizations (i.e. ISPAD, EASD, PSI).