Vita FitzSimons
Mentorship Programme Co-ordinator - Academy of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Research
Royal College of Nursing
20 Cavendish Square
LONDON W1G 0RN
Tel: (0207) 647 3598
Email: vita.fitzsimons@rcn.org.uk
Vita grew up abroad, in Venezuela, Holland, Greece and Portugal, and gained her secondary education in England. She graduated from Exeter University with a first-class BA Honours in English Studies in 2000. She then spent two years working part-time, doing a Master's in English Studies (with Criticism and Theory), for which she gained a Distinction and a School Commendation. Her respective dissertations were on Angela Carter and Elizabeth Gaskell.
She then spent a year as a primary care Research Management and Governance Co-ordinator working across 11 Primary Care Trusts in Devon and Cornwall, before taking up a post in mental health as Research & Development Communications Manager at Devon Partnership NHS Trust.
In July 2006 she left the mental health services to write for a Footprint Books guidebook, Body and Soul Escapes, and travelled through Central America reviewing health spas and yoga retreats before settling in Guatemala for nearly two years.
Back in the UK, she has returned to the world of health research, having taken up the opportunity to work at a more national level at the RCN. She is enjoying learning from her team members and the organisation as a whole.