Sofia Georgopoulou

Sofia's research background focused on exploring the impact of socio-economic deprivation on quality of life and health care access in patients with COPD as well as the role of psychosocial factors within that relationship. Her interests include concepts from Health Psychology such as illness perceptions, self-efficacy, quality of life as well as social capital in chronic illness. 

Sofia's current main area of research and interest pertains to Rheumatology specifically antiphospholipid (Hughes) syndrome (APS), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). She is particularly interested in examining if and how psychological approaches such as motivational interviewing and provision of social support contribute to improving patient-physician communication as well as patients’ quality of life, self-management and coping skills in rheumatic diseases. Sofia's role as a research associate in the TITRATE trial include developing a training syllabus and programme for rheumatology practitioners/nurses and delivering the training to participating sites all over the UK. In addition to her focus on psychosocial perspectives relating to patient well-being, Sofia is also interested in the medical background underlying rheumatic diseases which is the reason why she is currently undertaking an MSc in Rheumatology.

Sofia has been teaching Health Psychology and Psychoneuroimmunology to pre-medical exchange students from the US since 2010 and has been (co)facilitator of a Special Study Component (SSc module) focusing on Public and Patient Involvement in Research for MBBS Year 3 and 4 students.