Summary
I am Professor of Primary Care and Director of the Imperial Child Health Unit at the School of Public Health, Imperial College London, the UK’s pre-eminent research group for primary care of children. I graduated in medicine from St Bartholomew's Medical College and trained in London. I have practised as a GP in London and led research focusing on the use of electronic health records from health and social care to improve children and young people's health and reduce health inequalities. I support academic capacity building as Chair of the NIHR Academy’s Selection Committee for Doctoral Research Fellowships. In 2023, I was awarded an NIHR Senior Investigator award.
Research
I am the institutional (Imperial) lead for the national Children and Families Programme of the National School for Public Health Research (SPHR) and Executive Board Member. I am a founding member of the SPHR Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee. I provide cross school leadership as External Review Panel member for the National School for Primary Care Research. Locally, I lead the Child Population Health Theme for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration in Northwest London that aims to improve the health of children and families.
International work
As elected President of the Child and Adolescent Health Section of the European Public Health Association, I lead a network of 3000 health professionals in a 3 year strategic plan to achieve a WHO ‘Triple A rating (Analysis Advocacy Action) to improve children’s health in Europe (2021-2024). I am a Global Burden of Disease Collaborator, BMJ International Editorial Board Member and Visiting Professor in Europe, Asia and North America
Priority areas
Primary care; preconception pregnancy and parenthood
Early years; infection and vaccine preventable disease, urgent care
Health in schools; physical and emotional health in schools, IMprOVE cohort
Long term conditions; asthma, mental health, inflammatory bowel disease
Teaching and capacity building
I lead the Child Health Specialisation for Imperial's online Global Masters in Public Health and teach on undergraduate courses including the Imperial Medicine and BSc Biomedical Sciences.
In 2013, I led a successful application for a Silver Athena SWAN award for the School of Public Health to support career progression for women and disadvantaged staff and students. I have been academic mentor to numerous mentees as promotions champion at Imperial, university schemes across London, NIHR Academy Mentoring Programme and Oxford International Primary Care Research Leadership Programme.
CLINICAL
I have been a practising GP in Putney, London since 1995. All of my research stems from encounters with patients and the public.
Publications
Journals
Jayasooriya N, Pollok RC, Blackwell J, et al., 2023, Adherence to 5-aminosalicylic acid maintenance treatment in young people with ulcerative colitis: a retrospective cohort study in primary care, British Journal of General Practice, Vol:73, ISSN:0960-1643, Pages:e850-e857
Ram B, Van Sluijs E, Chalkley A, et al., 2023, Real-world application of a scalable school-based physical activity intervention: A cross-sectional survey of the implementation of The Daily Mile in Greater London primary schools, Plos One, Vol:18, ISSN:1932-6203
Phillips SM, Summerbell C, Hesketh KR, et al., 2023, Co-design and content validity of the movement measurement in the early years (MoveMEY) tool for assessing movement behaviour of pre-school aged children, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Vol:20, ISSN:1479-5868, Pages:1-16
Conference
Skirrow H, Foley K, Bedford H, et al., 2023, Maternal predictors of timeliness & uptake of Measles, Mumps & Rubella vaccine: A birth cohort study, 16th European Public Health Conference 2023, Oxford University Press, ISSN:1101-1262
Skirrow H, Foley K, Lewis C, et al., ‘Why did nobody ask us?’, parents’ views on childhood vaccines: A co-production research study, European Public Health Conference