Abstract

Sue Ziebland is a University Reader in Qualitative Health Research and research director of the Health Experiences Research Group, based in the Department of Primary Health Care, Oxford. She is also a research fellow at Green Templeton College. Sue’s background is in medical sociology, with increasing focus on qualitative research approaches. She was invited (by Ann McPherson) to be involved in the DIP Ex (now Healthtalkonline) project when it was still at the kitchen table stage – back in 1999. She spent a considerable amount of 1999 getting the projects through a national research ethics committee. Since then Sue has worked closely with colleagues in the research group, on the steering group and DIP Ex charity to develop the methods used in the projects and raise funding for the research. Sue’s other research interests include people’s use of the internet for health information: she has recently started a 5 year NIHR programme on the use of patients’ experiences on the internet, working with colleagues in Warwick, Northumbria, Sheffield and Stirling as well as Oxford.