Tell us a bit about your career background

My background is public health medicine, and my academic career began when I was a registrar working in the NHS, as I became interested in evaluating the policies and interventions I was seeing in practice. A placement at the University of Birmingham led to a PhD in public health which I completed alongside my clinical training. Since then I have developed a research portfolio focused on improving care and outcomes in women’s health and maternity. I’m also an honorary consultant in public health at NHS England and contribute to policy work in the Midlands region and beyond.

What are you doing now in your role as Associate Clinical Professor at WMS?

I moved to WMS in 2023, bringing existing research with me, and beginning a number of new projects, collaborations, and teaching roles.

I’m part of the NIHR Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Reproductive Health, the first of its kind, where we work on projects prioritised in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care. In my role in the NIHR West Midlands Applied Research Collaboration I’m leading studies including exploring how postnatal care has been impacted by the pandemic, and why evidence from maternity trials doesn’t make it into practice. Other work includes exploring the pregnancy experiences of women who have multiple health conditions, improving midwifery student training in repairing birth injuries, the West Midlands Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST) and evaluating Coventry’s Health Determinants Research Collaboration.

Since arriving at WMS I have been enjoying getting to know our students, education team and courses. In addition to postgraduate teaching and supervision across our programmes, I lead the Social Population Perspectives Theme of the medical course. This provides a fantastic opportunity to contribute to the education of the next generation of doctors informed by my clinical and research expertise in public health, women’s health and maternity.

You’re currently involved in work linked to the government’s Women’s Health Strategy – can you tell us more about that?

Sure!

I’m really excited to be co-leading the Reproductive Health PRU’s first project. It will explore how key aspects of the first Women's Health Strategy for England are being put into practice. This work follows on from the national evaluation of early Women's Health Hub models which I led in 2022-23.

In England, women’s reproductive health services and funding are really fragmented, with care funded by different organisations and provided in different places including GP practices, hospital gynaecology services and sexual health clinics. For example, women might have to go to one place for a smear test, another for contraception and another for menopause support. Care often isn’t joined up, women can find it difficult to access, and there are inequalities in care for women who need it the most.

The Women’s Health Strategy aims to improve the situation, and it’s brilliant to see this unprecedented focus on women’s health in the NHS. Since the Strategy launched, every area in England has appointed a Women’s Health Champion and is putting plans in place to set up ‘Women’s Health Hubs’ to provide more joined-up, accessible care. While this all sounds great, it’s not as simple as you might think – when setting new services up like this it’s important to look at how they fit with the wider health system. Careful planning is needed to improve care, reach women who have the greatest need and link effectively with other services.

Our PRU project will look at how the 42 Integrated Care Boards responsible for planning care in England are putting the Women’s Health Strategy into practice. We’ll identify successes and challenges, including ways of working that can be shared across the NHS. By working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, health professionals and women we will make sure that we’re asking the right questions, and delivering results back into the system so that they have maximum impact.

It’s important to say that while I refer to "women", we recognise that some people who do not identify as women also require access to the services listed and may benefit from care in women’s health hubs. These groups will also have specific needs and experiences which should be considered.

What do you most enjoy about your work?

It’s such a varied role, no two days are ever the same! I really enjoy meeting, working with, being inspired by and learning from such a wide range of people. This includes members of the public who tell us what needs to change, professionals who are working hard to improve care, academics from a huge range of disciplines, and students training to be future health and academic experts. It’s a real privilege to have access to all of those worlds and join the dots between them, while working to address important issues that affect the whole of society. I also enjoy the challenge of methodological work and working across disciplines to address complex problems. After more than 20 years in public health medicine and 15 years in research there is so much still to do and to learn. Of course, producing results that actually have an impact and make a contribution is really rewarding too!

What are you main long-term objectives with your work?

Over half of the population are women, and the majority will go through pregnancy and birth: there is huge opportunity to address preventable health problems and unacceptable inequalities. Women and girls’ health and wellbeing influences that of their families, communities and future generations. I bring a population health perspective to women’s and maternity research, education, policy and practice. This is complex work, with no silver bullets, and requires a team effort, with women at the centre. My long-term focus is on building teams, projects and evidence that cross professional and academic boundaries to make the system work better and to improve health for women and girls throughout their lives.

This year the theme for International Women’s Day is ‘Inspire Inclusion’. What does International Women’s Day mean to you, and how do you aim to inspire inclusion in your work?

Look, I have to admit that I am a bit cautious about International Women's Day. I think it’s fantastic to have a spotlight on and to celebrate women on this day each year. But it is just one day, and women’s health and wellbeing needs year-round action. It’s pretty depressing that we still have such a long way to go to address gender inequality in women’s lives, in research, and in academia in the UK, and globally things are much worse. So it means that we’re talking about women’s rights, health and wellbeing today, which is great, but let’s carry on the conversation tomorrow!

There are many opportunities to communicate and explore the importance of inclusion in both my teaching and research, but it’s about much more than that. For me inspiring inclusion involves humility, proactive learning, and using my own privilege to support others and create space and opportunity. It includes looking critically at our teams, our work, the way we involve people, and the way we behave, recognising where we’ve got work to do and making the changes. That sounds a bit like virtue-signalling 101 - I definitely don’t have all the answers and I’m learning every day from brilliant colleagues and collaborators. I’m also inspired by leaders in the wider system such as Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Lucy Chappell who is driving change to make the academic community and research it delivers more inclusive.