Rhia Saggu

Specialist Oncology dietitian, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 

Rhia is currently undertaking a pre-doctoral research fellowship with NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, which focuses on prehabilitation for gynaecological cancer patients.

Aside from oncology, Rhia has a passionate interest in health and wellbeing inequalities faced by people from BAME backgrounds. In 2020, she underwent training to become a BAME Ambassador at ICHT and since then, has been working on local projects to help support the trusts’ race equality agenda; such as virtual Culture Cafes whereby speakers are invited to educate staff about less commonly known communities and faiths.

As part of the NWL ARC Improvement Leader Fellowship, Rhia and Karuna plan to design, deliver, evaluate, and refine a service (which has not yet been established) for BAME staff at ICHT to receive support around health and wellbeing, professional development, conflict resolution and other issues pertaining to the workplace. These will take the form of ‘drop-in sessions’ on a monthly basis, whereby the BAME ambassadors will help and signpost members of staff to relevant support services, or highlight the need for new services, based on the requirements of the staff.