Dr Arietta Spinou

Dr Arietta Spinou is a lecturer and researcher, who utilises academic excellence and advanced clinical insights to inform her work.

Dr Spinou was awarded a PhD in Respiratory Medicine for her thesis "Assessment of health status and cough in bronchiectasis", King’s College London; an MSc in Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy, UCL; and a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy, TEI of Athens, Greece. Her postgraduate studies were funded by the prestigious Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY), after ranking 1^st in national exams for Physiotherapy. She also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in Higher Education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr Spinou has over 13 years of clinical experience in Greece, Finland and the UK. Within the NHS, she has worked in award-winning teams as Senior and Specialist Respiratory Physiotherapist.

Dr Spinou is an active advocate for creating strong stakeholder links and supports Allied Health Professional (AHP) research capability and capacity building. She is the first non-medical member of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Pulmonary Infection Specialist Advisory Group. In 2021, Dr Spinou was nominated for the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care (ACPRC) award "Connecting People" because “… Arietta has facilitated a number of networks at a National and European level, and is always keen to bring people together. She was instrumental in setting up a respiratory physiotherapy network in Greece…”. Dr Spinou is the chair of the AHP Affinity Group at the School Life Course & Population Sciences, which links a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, researchers and clinical academics from King’s Health Partners.

Research Interests:

• Chronic lung conditions: Dr Spinou research work focuses on chronic lung conditions, with a particular interest in bronchiectasis. Using Rash analysis, she developed and validated the Bronchiectasis Health Questionnaire (BHQ). This is and the only bronchiectasis-specific health status questionnaire with a total score. BHQ has been translated in over 15 languages and is extensively used in clinical and research settings.
• Cough physiology and outcome measures: Dr Spinou conducted the first study on 24-hour cough monitoring in patients with bronchiectasis and has a great interest in cough.
• Airway clearance: Dr Spinou led the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Task Force for Airway Clearance Techniques in adults with Bronchiectasis. This highly impactful work has been developed by a group of 16 international experts and patient representatives.

Dr Spinou has supervised two successful PhD students (PhD awarded). She has also provided research consultancy as a Fellow of the Research Design Service, National Institute of Health Research.

Dr Spinou accepts PhD students. For information and informal queries, please contact her directly.