Rate My Professor Claire Nolan

Dr Claire Nolan is a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy in the Department of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, at Brunel University London. She is also an NIHR Advanced Fellow with clinical expertise in pulmonary rehabilitation. Her academic qualifications include a PhD from Imperial College London in 2018, titled 'Gait speed and prognosis in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis'; an MSc in Advanced Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy from University College London in 2015, awarded with a gold medal; and a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy from University of Dublin, Trinity College in 2006, as a scholar. Dr Nolan's research focuses on developing strategies to increase engagement in rehabilitation programmes and exploring alternative models for people living with chronic lung conditions and multiple long-term conditions. She employs expertise in intervention co-design, mixed-methodologies, feasibility studies, and randomised controlled trials. Current projects include the co-design and feasibility testing of a very brief behavioural change approach to assist healthcare professionals in discussing pulmonary rehabilitation with COPD patients, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (January 2024 - December 2027), and co-design of a financial incentive intervention to increase pulmonary rehabilitation referral, uptake and completion, funded by Brunel University London (August 2023 - July 2024).

Dr Nolan has authored numerous impactful publications and holds key professional roles in her field. Selected recent works include 'Minimal vs Specialized Exercise Equipment for Pulmonary Rehabilitation: A Randomized Clinical Trial' in JAMA Network Open (2025), 'Determining the minimum important differences for field walking tests in adults with long–term conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis' in European Respiratory Review (2025), 'Is videoconference pulmonary rehabilitation associated with improvements in knowledge in people living with COPD? A propensity-matched service-evaluation' in Chronic Respiratory Disease (2025), 'Comprehensive geriatric assessment for people with both COPD and frailty starting pulmonary rehabilitation: a mixed-methods feasibility trial' in ERJ Open Research (2024), and the British Thoracic Society Clinical Statement on pulmonary rehabilitation in Thorax (2023). She also contributed the chapter 'Emerging models of pulmonary rehabilitation' to the book Pulmonary Rehabilitation (2021). Dr Nolan serves as Chair Elect of the American Thoracic Society Pulmonary Rehabilitation Assembly Programme Committee (from April 2024), member of the British Thoracic Society Pulmonary Rehabilitation Quality Standards Committee (from February 2024), and member of the NHSE National Respiratory Programme - Pulmonary Rehabilitation Stream (from August 2022). She is the Impact Champion for the Department of Health Sciences and contributes to teaching through tutorial lectures on critical care and respiratory modules, leading the aging studies module, and supervising BSc and MSc research projects.