But these outcomes are no coincidence. They’re driven by a team with first-hand insight into the role and the reality of life in theatres. Many trained at Edge Hill University themselves, before building clinical careers across the North West and beyond. And now they’re back, helping the next generation take their first steps into the profession.
So, who is shaping this success and how have their Edge Hill journeys helped transform Operating Department Practice for today’s students?
Beginnings that shape futures
As Sarah Brady lay on the operating table, she wasn’t thinking about teaching her next sixth form PE lesson. Instead, her mind was focused on one solitary thought:
I want to do this
As the fog of the anaesthetic descended, it gave her unexpected clarity on what would become a life-changing decision. At her most vulnerable, the calm assurance, technical expertise and quiet compassion of the operating team stayed with her. Watching the ODPs at work, anticipating needs, balancing technical expertise with empathy, and safeguarding patients at their most vulnerable, struck a chord with Sarah and stayed with her long after she left the theatre.
She realised she no longer wanted to return to teaching; she wanted to work at the heart of a surgical team, where split-second decisions and human understanding go hand-in-hand. That decision led her to Edge Hill University, where she achieved a first-class honours degree, launched her career as an Operating Department Practitioner, and ultimately returned to the university, this time as part of the team shaping the next generation.
Today, Sarah is a senior lecturer with extensive experience across both the NHS and private sector, shaping the next generation of ODPs and passing on the values that first inspired her journey as an Edge Hill student.
From student to staff: a full circle journey
Sarah’s experience at Edge Hill is not unusual, and that’s precisely what makes it so powerful.
She is one of at least nine Edge Hill‑trained practitioners who developed their practice in clinical settings, and have since returned to the university to teach, mentor and support the next generation of ODPs, as part of a close-knit team.
Together, Sarah and her colleagues bring years of varied frontline experience from theatres and other clinical settings across the North West and beyond. While each has followed a different professional path, they are united by a shared commitment: to support students in the same way they once were, and to uphold the standards of care that define the ODP profession.
Leanne Owens, now an ODP lecturer, trained at Edge Hill University and brings insight from diverse theatre environments across the North West, including Aintree, Southport and Ormskirk, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen, Liverpool Women’s, Alder Hey and the Walton Centre and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital. She began her career in anaesthetics and recovery before progressing to a senior role in the first cardiac Cath lab in the country to have an anaesthetic team based in the department.
Senior lecturer Nicola Greenlees brings extensive expertise in orthopaedic anaesthesia, an area of ODP that she describes as a passion, one she was keen to share with ODPs of the future back at the University.
Faye Lowry studied as an ODP at Edge Hill University and is now Senior Lecturer in Perioperative Studies. She has extensive clinical experience across adult and paediatric settings, specialising in anaesthetics and post-anaesthetic care. Her career pathway includes progression to Head of Resuscitation, demonstrating the leadership and advancement opportunities available within the ODP profession. Passionate about education, leadership, and lifelong learning, Faye is committed to developing confident, compassionate practitioners equipped to deliver safe, high quality, perioperative care.
After graduating from Edge Hill University in 2008, Dave Lyon built a 16‑year clinical career alongside senior education roles supporting ODP students in practice. Remaining closely connected to Edge Hill through further study and practice partnership, he returned to the University in 2024 as an ODP lecturer, bringing extensive frontline and educational experience back to the programme.
Kate Hargreaves began her journey in 2011 as part of our first ODP cohort, before building a clinical career at Manchester Royal Infirmary and progressing into practice education roles, supporting ODP students. She returned to Edge Hill University in 2023 as a lecturer in Practice Learning, where she now supports students on placement and leads two modules.
Kirsty Pierce trained here as an Adult Nurse, where a strong sense of community and diverse placement experience shaped her early career. During her training, she discovered the ODP role and pursued a clinical pathway specialising in neuro care, progressing from neurosurgical scrub practice to senior roles in neurovascular surgery and neuro‑interventional radiology. Education remained a constant interest throughout her clinical career, and encouragement from colleagues led her back to Edge Hill University.
“I am incredibly grateful to be back doing what I love in a place that has always felt like home,” reflects Kirsty.
Collectively, these experiences shape not only what students learn, but how they are supported, academically, professionally and personally, from day one.
Support grounded in understanding
As an ODP student, you’ll benefit from being taught by lecturers and tutors who bring not only a wealth of clinical knowledge, but first-hand experience of both the course and the profession.
Your lecturers are not distant figures, but people who have walked the same path. Having experienced the academic expectations, placement pressures, assessments and workload themselves, they are able to offer support grounded in understanding rather than assumption, an approach our students consistently recognise and value.
As Indianna Salinas, a third year ODP student, explains:
“Being taught by ODP lecturers who trained at Edge Hill themselves has been really inspiring. Their first-hand experience of the course and profession makes the teaching feel very relevant and supportive, and it’s reassuring to learn from people who were once in our position. The team have also been incredibly supportive both academically and personally, always approachable and understanding, whether it’s help with coursework or support during challenges outside of university. It definitely motivates me and makes the goal of qualifying feel more achievable.”
Dale Rowland, also a third- year student, highlights the impact of being taught by Edge Hill alumni:
“They’ve been through it. They know how hard it can be at times, and how important it is to have the right support and guidance in place. As a student, you feel supported at all times.”
Dale believes that this support nurtures the perfect environment for learning and growing, on both an academic and personal level.
And students benefit from their connections too. The ODP team’s extensive networks across hospitals and trusts mean they can draw on a wide range of contacts to support students’ individual needs.
As Sarah Brady explains:
“Everybody knows everybody.”
It’s the same sense of community, on placements, on campus and beyond, that encourages so many graduates to stay connected long after they qualify.
A place worth coming back to
So what is it about Edge Hill University that encourages so many ODP and Nursing graduates to return?
For Faye, it felt like a homecoming:
“I returned to Edge Hill because, to me, it has always felt like a place of belonging and I wanted to be part of the team that produces high quality registrants who consistently deliver compassionate care.”
Dave echoes this sense of connection:
“After 16 years in clinical practice and extensive experience supporting Edge Hill’s ODP Programme, I felt it was the right time in September 2024 to join the Edge Hill ODP team as a lecturer when the opportunity arose. Edge Hill University has been a consistent presence throughout my professional journey. It has enabled me to achieve the qualifications necessary to realise my career ambitions.”
In a profession where confidence, competence and compassion are critical, these outcomes don’t happen by chance. At Edge Hill, they are shaped by people who understand the journey first-hand, because they have lived it themselves. From lecture theatre to operating theatre, and back again, Edge Hill’s ODP alumni are shaping the next generation with insight, empathy and purpose.
As Sarah puts it simply:
“We know what works. We know how to support you.”
It’s an approach shaped by experience and one that helps today’s ODP students succeed, just as they have.
Inspired by our alumni journeys? Discover how you can follow the same path with Operating Department Practice at Edge Hill University.
May 15, 2026
