Staff Profile
Dr Sara Ma
Lecturer, Nursing
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I am a registered adult nurse and non-medical prescriber. I have clinical experience in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), critical care, perioperative medicine and research nursing. I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I started my nursing career in London and trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital (City, London University). I subsequently worked in two London based NHS hospitals after qualification and went on to undertake a post-registration course in Critical Care. I moved to York in 2013 and spent 10 years working as a nurse for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation before moving across to academia. I continue to work for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals as an IBD specialist nurse on a locum basis. Prior to nursing, I completed a degree in Linguistics at University College London and worked for a national health and environmental charity.
I completed my Masters in Adult Nursing with a distinction in 2017. My thesis explored whether BNP was predictive of post-operative cardiac risk in major elective abdominal surgery. In 2025, I completed my PhD in Health Science at the University of York. My PhD research explored the sexual health experiences of men with IBD.
- School – School of Science, Technology and Health
- Email – s.ma@yorksj.ac.uk
- Phone – 01904 876 531
- Research - View my work in RaY
Further information
Teaching
My main teaching responsibilities are across the Adult and Mental Health Nursing undergraduate degree programmes. I am the module lead for the Researching Whole Person Health module (NUR5002M), an academic assessor and dissertation supervisor. I am also involved in teaching the following subject areas:
- Gastrointestinal, hepatology, cardiovascular and pelvic anatomy and pathophysiology
- Clinical skills including but not limited to venipuncture, cannulation, catheterisation, ECG interpretation
- Public health
- Nursing philosophy and theory
- Moving and handling training
- Basic life support
Research
I have over 15 years of research experience within the NHS. I am predominantly a qualitative researcher but have also designed and led mixed-methods research. My research is focused on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and during my PhD I explored men's experiences of sexual health when living with IBD. I am also interested in men's health, peri-operative health and nursing practice.
I am currently the Chief Investigator for the MenSH-IBD Study which aims to develop an intervention to help nurses improve the assessment and care of the sexual health needs of men with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: a mixed methods study using co-production. This study is being funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
I am open to supervising research students.
Professional activities
I maintain regular clinical practice as an Inflammatory Bowel Disease Specialist Nurse with York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust.
