Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Research

About Prof Sarah Stewart-Brown

Sarah Stewart-Brown

''Back in the 1990s, it became clear to me that if we were going to give mental health the attention it warranted in public health practice, promoting mental wellbeing and preventing mental illness as we do for physical health, we needed a scale that captured mental wellbeing. So, working with colleagues, I developed WEMWBS. Over the last decade, WEMWBS has enabled countless practitioners and professionals to promote mental wellbeing because it makes the concept easy to understand and allows the quantitative evaluations which are often required by funders and commissioners.''

Sarah Stewart-Brown is Professor of Public Health at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick. She joined the University in 2003 from the University of Oxford where she had directed the Health Services Research Unit. Her research has enabled the development of public mental health practice both in the UK and internationally. That relating to parenting and school-based approaches has been key in the development of policy relating to the promotion of children’s mental health and wellbeing. Her research on the measurement of mental wellbeing and its determinants has enabled countless others to develop and evaluate interventions to promote mental wellbeing. She has consistently argued the value of focusing on the positive.

Sarah has advised English, Scottish and Welsh Governments on public mental health in a variety of contexts. Until 2016 she was Chair of the Faculty of Public Health’s Mental Health Committee. She has sat on many Expert Advisory Groups including the Office For National Statistics Group on Measuring Wellbeing and Public Health England’s Mental Health Campaign.

Prior to starting her academic career, Sarah worked in the UK NHS both in paediatrics and in public health so she brings a wealth of practical experience as well as expertise in research and teaching. She has published extensively with over 250 peer-review journal publications, books, book chapters, and reports.

In 2015 Sarah was awarded the prestigious Wilfred Harding Prize by the Faculty of Public Health in recognition of her contribution to and leadership in public health.