Weller, Dr Susie

Susie Weller is a CPM Research Fellow. Susie is a social scientist and, for the past 20 years, her research interests have included: familial relationships; youth transitions; caring relations, identities and practices; patient journeys; and the wider impacts of health conditions and interventions. Much of this research has been with children, youth and families. Throughout her career, she has worked at the interface between theoretical advances in family and youth research, and applied research that has policy and practice relevance. Much of this work has been in interdisciplinary teams straddling different social science disciplines, and the social and biomedical sciences.

Her current work forms part of the ‘Ethical Preparedness in Genomic Medicine’ study (Wellcome Trust, 2018-24), which combines conceptual, empirical, and theoretical work to examine the ethical and social challenges that arise for those living and working with genetic and genomic results. Susie draws on a range of conceptual tools from family and lifecourse sociology and employs qualitative longitudinal research approaches to explore, over time, interactions between individuals, those within their networks, and the wider social processes and structures shaping their experiences. She is particularly interested in: how patients and families navigate different routes through genomic medicine; the resources and support on which they draw to manage the process; how participants conceive of their data journey; and how caring relationships, identities and practices evolve over time.