Dr Zena Aldridge

Zena is a Clinical Academic who's career in health and social care has spanned four decades. She qualified as a mental health nurse in 2003 and completed a master's degree in mental health in 2013. More recently, she undertook a PhD and completed her thesis ‘Relationships, morality and emotion: their impact and influence on nursing home staff decision-making when a resident with advanced dementia deteriorates’ in November 2022.

Dr Aldridge has relished the challenge of less traditional roles throughout her career but always with a keen focus on improving the outcomes and experiences of care for older people, people living with dementia, their families and carers. Her specialist interest includes care of older people, dementia care, frailty, palliative and end of life care, social care, continence management, case management, biopsychosocial care as well as service integration and quality improvement. She is a published author of multiple journal articles and contributor to several books.

Given her various areas of interest, skills and experience, Dr Aldridge holds a portfolio of roles including NIHR Nursing and Midwifery Office Associate Director for Social Care, NIHR Senior Clinical Practitioner Research Awardee, Consultant editor of Nursing Older People and independent dementia nurse consultant.