The Apollo team welcomes two new PhD researchers
By The Apollo Team
The Apollo team is delighted to introduce Pim and Lotte as PhD researchers.
Naphat (Pim) Jittavisutthikul
I’m a first-year PhD student on the Wellcome Trust funded Health Data in Practice programme based in the Centre for Primary Care, QMUL. My project involves patients who are accessing Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RA) for weight loss through private online pharmacies. While GLP-1s can be prescribed through the NHS, the vast majority (over 1.2 million people) in the UK are paying out-of-pocket through private providers. Social media and other forms of online content have become a platform for patients to discuss, influence, ask for advice, and inform other potential GLP-1 users. This growing demand results in increasing pressure on the regulating bodies to ensure that private providers can safety prescribe and monitor weight loss progress, as well as offer suitable dietary and lifestyle support to their patients’ long-term health.
I previously completed an MSc in Design, Business and Technology Management, and have worked on the commercial side in medical device public relations (NSTDA) and brand advertising (Ogilvy & Mather), as well as on the academic side as a research assistant (Thammasat University), so I’m interested in bringing together my interdisciplinary background to understand this evolving healthcare service landscape.
When I’m not working, I enjoy cooking, trying to recreate my favourite dishes from home (Thailand) – spice is life! A year since moving to London, I’ve had great fun exploring museums and historical places with my friends, my pick would be the birds exhibit at the natural history museum.
Lotte Elton
I am an academic GP and qualitative primary care researcher with interests in medical overuse, risk communication, and the role of evidence and values in clinical care. My work focuses on the social meanings that patients and clinicians ascribe to medical interventions, drawing on a range of approaches from sociology, philosophy and public health.
In October 2025, I took up an NIHR School of Primary Care Research Clinical Doctoral Fellowship, funded by the Wellcome Trust. I am based at QMUL four days a week doing my PhD and I work a day a week as a GP in Islington.
My PhD aims to understand and improve how the limitations and risks of blood tests are discussed in primary care. Blood tests are useful, but they do not always improve patient care and in some cases can cause harm: for example, borderline test results may cause patients to worry or have unnecessary further tests. These issues are not always clearly explained to patients, who often feel unsure about why blood test are done and what their results mean. Through the PhD, I hope to engage with patients and clinicians to come up with new strategies to improve communication about blood tests.
I will be using a range of qualitative approaches in my PhD, including ethnography, video-reflexive ethnography and Forum Theatre. In the final stage of the PhD, I will work with members of the public to co-produce resources about blood test communication for patients and clinicians.