School of Health & Wellbeing

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: Wellbeing as the Goal of Government
Presenter: Prof Lord Richard Layard
Date: Wednesday 29 May 2024
Time: 1-2pm, tea and coffee will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Room 103AB Clarice Pears Building, 90 Byres Road, G12 8TB this event will be delivered by Zoom, please join us in person in the room or by zoom (zoom link avaiable on registration)
Chair: Prof Jonathan Evans
Register here: on Eventbrite

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here

Abstract

I will first set out the case for having people’s wellbeing as the overarching goal. This implies that public funds should go to whom the wellbeing benefits are highest relative to the cost. This involves a whole set of new priorities, including more attention on mental health.

Bio

Richard Layard is the founder-Director of the Centre for Economic Performance - a leading inter-disciplinary research centre at the London School of Economics. He is currently co-Director of their Community Wellbeing programme.
Layard is an economist who wants public policy to be targeted at the wellbeing of the people. To this end he has written 6 books and some 40 articles. The first book, Happiness: Lessons from a new science (2005) was translated into 20 languages. The most recent (co-authored) book Wellbeing: Science and Policy is a field-defining textbook, showing how wellbeing science can supplement traditional economics by providing a more complete account of what affects human wellbeing.
Since 2005 he has directed a research programme to develop this evidence base. Many of the results can be found in the co-authored book The Origins of Happiness (2018), as well as in numerous articles. He is also a founding co-editor of the annual World Happiness Report.
He has also had substantial influence on public policy. In 2000 he was appointed a member of the House of Lords. In 2007 he persuaded the British government to develop a large programme of psychological therapy (IAPT, now NHS Talking Therapies), which treats 700,000 patients a year. In 2010 he influenced the UK government to measure wellbeing as a national statistic – using questions later recommended by the OECD to its member countries.
In addition to all this, he has co-founded two organizations targeted at wellbeing. Action for Happiness (founded in 2010) is a grassroots movement to promote a happier way of living. It now has over half a million members. The World Wellbeing Movement (founded in 2022) is a ‘top-down’ organisation to persuade decisionmakers to make wellbeing their priority. In these various ways Richard has been trying to promote the use of evidence to increase wellbeing.
Before that, his focus as a labour economist, was on unemployment and inequality. His analysis of unemployment with Stephen Nickell was widely used in Europe as the basis for employment policy. And before that he made significant contributions to the economics of education.
Richard is currently immersed in a major study of value-for-money across the whole field of public expenditure, where value is measured in terms of wellbeing. He considers this the next key step forward in wellbeing science.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: The Science of Connection – Real life stories of school transformation as a result of public engagement efforts
Presenter: Dr Suzanne Zeedyk
Date: Wednesday 17 April 2024
Time: 1-2pm, tea and coffee will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Room 103B, Clarice Pears building, 90 Byres road, Glasgow, G12 8TB
Chair: Mrs Dawn Haughton
Register here: on Bookitbee zoom link available on registration

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here 

Abstract

The Science of Connection enables us to see how deeply wired human beings are for relationships.  Even as newborn infants we possess the biological, neurological, physiological capacity for detecting connection (and disconnection) with others.  The sciences of attachment and childhood trauma have helped us to understand how experiences of other people shape human development.  Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, developmental psychologist at the University of Dundee for twenty years, will share the story of how she took her expertise in this area out to the public, finding strategies to help them to engage with the discoveries of developmental researchers.  She will focus in particular on sharing stories of schools in Scotland who have engaged with this material, thereby boosting their confidence in placing relationships at the centre of their practice and policy.  These stories matter because there is still much doubt in our overwhelmed education system about the effectiveness of trauma-informed policies.  Dr Zeedyk’s real life stories of schools and early years settings help us to see where some of the barriers lie in implementing research knowledge.  This talk will treat us to a fascinating journey of the translation of science for the public

Bio

Dr. Suzanne Zeedyk is a research scientist fascinated by babies’ innate capacity to connect. Since 1993, she has been based at the University of Dundee (Scotland), within the School of Psychology, where she now holds an Honorary Post. In 2011, she stepped away from a full-time academic post in order to establish an independent training enterprise, the aim of which is to help the public understand what science now understands about the importance of emotional connection for human health and happiness. She works internationally with organisations keen to think more deeply about fostering connection, compassion and resilience. In the last 5 years, more than 40,000 people have attended her speaking events. Suzanne’s core aspiration is to strengthen awareness of the decisions we take about caring for our children — because those choices are integrally connected to our vision for the kind of society we wish to build. More information is available on www.suzannezeedyk.com.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: Building and using Scotland's national data for research on maternal and child health: Opportunities and Challenges
Presenter: Dr Rachael Wood
Date: Tuesday 19 March 2024
Time: 4-5pm, tea and coffee will be served from 3.30pm
Venue: Room 103AB Clarice Pears Building, 90 Byres Road, G12 8TB
Chair: Prof David McAllister

Abstract

Rachael Wood is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine in Public Health Scotland, and an Honorary Professor of Maternal and Child Public Health in the University of Edinburgh.  She has many years’ experience in developing and using national health data for research.  She will present an overview of recent developments in national data relating to maternal and child health.  She will provide illustrative examples of research projects that have used these data, and reflect on current challenges and opportunities in this field.

Bio

Dr Wood works across the NHS and the University of Edinburgh.  Within the NHS, Dr Wood is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine in Public Health Scotland.  Within the University, she is an Honorary Reader in the Usher Institute.

Within Public Health Scotland, Dr Wood focuses on maternal and child health, and is inaugural director of Scotland's national congenital anomaly register (CARDRISS).  Her role involves development of national data, overseeing national statistics publications, providing information to support health policy and service development and evaluation, and supporting the use of Public Health Scotland data for research purposes.

Within the University, Dr Wood conducts research on maternal and child public health.  She has particular topic interests in congenital anomalies and child development.  She has particular methodological interests in the use of routine administrative data for research.

Prior to her current roles, Dr Wood held a CSO Clinical Academic Training Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh from 2007 to 2011.  During her fellowship she undertook a PhD examining changes made to Scotland’s child health programme in 2005.  Dr Wood graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1993.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: "Arms and the Mind - An Innovative Approach to Mental Trauma in the First World War"
Presenter: Prof Beverly Bergman
Date: Wednesday 28 February 2024
Time: 1-2pm, tea and coffee will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Yudowitz seminar room, Wolfson Medical School building, University Avenue, G12 8QQ
Chair: Prof Ewan MacDonald

Watch and listen to the video here

Abstract

The First World War saw unprecedented numbers of personnel in uniform, often in appalling conditions or working long hours under extreme pressure.  As the war progressed, the scale of mental health consequences began to emerge.  Traditional treatments often proved ineffective in dealing with combat trauma.  Told through the stories of some of the doctors who treated the patients, the remarkable Lady Clementine Waring, who was awarded a CBE for her war work, and some of the patients themselves, this talk will explore how a unique collection of heraldic shields found at a former convalescent home for wounded officers in the Scottish Borders revealed a novel treatment for mental trauma in the First World War.  Follow-up after the war shows that many recovered well from their experiences and went on to lead successful lives. The talk will be illustrated with personal photographs and recollections, as well as the shields themselves, and some surprising discoveries!  

Bio

Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the LSE, and Director of the Executive MSc in Behavioural Science.
Three decades of research have focused on developing ways to better measure and value the richness of the human experience. He has worked extensively with policy-makers and private companies, and he has been featured on various forms of media given his commitment to making acadenic research more accessible to the general public.
He is author of the Sunday Times best-selling book “Happiness by Design”, and “Happy Ever After”. He is creator and presenter of the podcasts "Duck - Rabbit" and "Get Happier". He is also the Founder of the Lifetime Wellbeing Cooperative™ and is currently writing a book about how to reduce polarisation.

Expertise Details: Field experiments; happiness; public policy; wellbeing; behavioural economics

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: TBC
Presenter: Prof Paul Dolan
Date: CANCELLED
Time: 1-2pm, tea and coffee will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Room 102, Clarice Pears building, 90 Byres Road, Glasgow, G12 8TB.  
Chair: Prof R O'Connor / Prof E McIntosh

Abstract

to follow

Bio

Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the LSE, and Director of the Executive MSc in Behavioural Science. Three decades of research have focused on developing ways to better measure and value the richness of the human experience. He has worked extensively with policy-makers and private companies, and he has been featured on various forms of media given his commitment to making academic research more accessible to the general public. He is author of the Sunday Times best-selling book “Happiness by Design”, and “Happy Ever After”. He is creator and presenter of the podcasts "Duck - Rabbit" and "Get Happier". He is also the Founder of the Lifetime Wellbeing Cooperative™ and is currently writing a book about how to reduce polarisation.

Expertise Details: Field experiments; happiness; public policy; wellbeing; behavioural economics

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: What do we talk about when we talk about Trauma? Exploring trauma measurement and outcomes. 
Presenter: Prof Cherie Armour
Date: Wednesday 29 November 2023
Time: 1-2pm, tea and coffee will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Room 103A Clarice Pears Building, 90 Byres Road, G12 8TB
Chair: Prof Beverly Bergman
Register here: on Eventbrite zoom link available on registration 

Abstract

To follow

Bio

Professor Cherie Armour is a Professor of Psychological Trauma & Mental Health. Cherie focuses on an array of risk and resilience factors that promote either psychological difficulty or psychological wellness after experiencing potentially traumatising events. Cherie is particularly interested in those who have experienced trauma as part of their occupational role or those experiencing maltreatment in childhood. Recently, Cheries research has focused on mechanisms promoting post-adversity resilience.  She has published over 200 papers, secured millions of pounds in external grant income, and presented several keynotes at conference across the world. Professor Armour has a particular passion for mentoring and coaching early career researchers.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: Gender representation in science publication: evidence from Brain Communications
Presenter: Dr Manuela Marescotti
Date: Wednesday 25 October 2023
Time: 1-2pm, a light lunch will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre, 1445 Argyle St, Glasgow G3 8AW
Chair: Dr Donald Lyall
Register here: on Eventbrite livestream link available on registration

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here 

Abstract

The persistent under representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) points to the need to continue promoting awareness and understanding of this phenomenon. Being one of the main outputs of scientific work, academic publications provide the opportunity to quantify the gender gap in science as well as to identify possible sources of bias and areas of improvement.

Brain Communications is a ‘young’ journal founded in 2019, committed to the transparent publication of rigorous work in neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry. We analysed the gender of authors and reviewers of almost 800 manuscripts received by the journal, and overall we observed that women were less represented than men among authors (35.3%) and invited reviewers (31.3%).

Moreover, a considerably higher proportion of women was found in first authorship (42.4%) than in last authorship positions (24.9%). The representation of women authors and reviewers decreased further in the months following COVID-19 restrictions, suggesting a possible exacerbating role of the pandemic on existing disparities in science publication. The proportion of manuscripts accepted for publication was not significantly different according to the gender of the first, middle or last authors. Thus, we did not find evidence of gender bias within the review or editorial decision-making processes at Brain Communications.

Bio

Early on, I developed an interest in genetics that led me to study Biotechnology at the University of Naples "Federico II". Then, I obtained a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh, specialising myself in using fruit flies to study neurodegenerations. Over the years, I had the opportunity to work on research projects both in academia and industry, with the likes of Prof. Douglas Armstrong and Prof. Jamie Davies. As I am a person that is looking always for new challenges, while carrying on my project in Davies lab, I am starting a career in academic publishing working with the great neuroscientist Prof. Tara Spires-Jones for the Brain Communications journal.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: Autism and the double empathy problem: A phenomenological perspective 
Presenter: Dr Damian Milton 
Date: Wednesday 27 September2023
Time: 1-2pm, a light lunch will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre, 1445 Argyle St, Glasgow G3 8AW
Chair: Dr Louise Beattie 

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here

Abstract

In literature written about autism there has traditionally been a focus on perceived deficits in relation to social communication, social interaction and repetitive and ritualistic behaviours. What is written on the subject is often negative in its narrative with interventions designed to improve normative ‘social skills’ and reduce or stop repetitive behaviours. In this presentation, a phenomenological ‘inside-out’ approach is taken that views social communication and interaction as a reciprocal and socially situated issue and that views repetitive behaviours in terms of stress, prediction, flow states and an ‘interest model’ of autism. The presentation will then go on to look at support strategies such as the low-arousal approach that can help autistic people in practice.

Bio

Damian works part-time for the Tizard Centre, University of Kent as a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Damian also has been a consultant for the Transform Autism Education (TAE) project and numerous projects for the Autism Education Trust (AET). Damian’s interest in autism began when his son was diagnosed in 2005 as autistic at the age of two. Damian was also diagnosed with Asperger’s in 2009 at the age of thirty-six. Damian’s primary focus is on increasing the meaningful participation of autistic people and people with learning disabilities in the research process and chairs the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC).

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: Leadership in the Pandemic 
Presenter: Prof Jason Leitch
Date: Wednesday 30 August 2023
Time: 1-2pm, a light lunch will be served from 12.30pm
Venue: Room 103AB Clarice Pears Building, 90 Byres Road, G12 8TB
Chair: Dr Claire Hastie

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here

Abstract

The tension at the heart of great leadership will always be – “Is this the right decision?” – a question asked regularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Scotland the course taken was steered by senior clinical advisors and those leading in Public Health. In this presentation, Scotland’s National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch CBE, explains how decisions were taken during a very difficult period in everyone’s lives. Jason gives the back story of how he and other senior leaders dealt with the day-to-day challenges of preparing political leaders to make difficult decisions that they knew would be extremely unpopular. This advice, they realised, would cause economic and social harm but they knew too that the health and survival of the nation was paramount. The audience will learn about what set Scotland apart from the rest of the UK during those challenging months. Jason will explain how clear and direct communication helped the nation understand why Public Health advice had to be heeded.Using social media (and a flipchart and pen) he taught the nation about concepts like the “R” number and “viral variants”. These short easy-to-understand videos quickly went viral, shared far beyond the borders of Scotland. To reach audiences and to help with understanding the decisions that were being made around Public Health messaging, Jason regularly appeared on youth and community radio stations, football radio programmes and in online school events. He was the voice that people heard delivering Public Health advice, appearing in television adverts and as a guest on many news programmes. He wrote to schools, parents, business owners and spiritual leaders - always trying to alleviate fear and delivering the messages. to help keep Scotland safe.These lessons in mass and crisis communications offer an enormous resource for Public Health practitioners in handling future emergencies. This lecture is a unique glimpse into what it was like, professionally and personally, for Scotland’s National Clinical Director and others when they were dealing with the global pandemic.

Bio

Jason has worked for the Scottish Government since 2007. In January 2015, he was appointed as The National Clinical Director in the Health and Social Care Directorate.

Jason is an Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee. From 2005 to 2006 he was a Quality Improvement Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in Boston, sponsored by the Health Foundation. Jason is also a trustee of the UK wing of the Indian Rural Evangelical Fellowship which runs orphanages in southeast India.

He qualified as a dentist in 1991 and was as a Consultant Oral Surgeon in Glasgow. He has a doctorate from the University of Glasgow, a Masters in Public Health from Harvard and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: Can we change evaluation systems? 
Presenter: Prof Peter Dahler-Larsen
Date: Wednesday 21 June 2023
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: Kelvin Hall LT
Chair: Dr Nai Rui Chng

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here

Abstract

One of the most dominant trends in the field of evaluation in recent years is the institutionalization of evaluation under headlines such as “evaluation culture,” “evaluation policy,” and “evaluation systems.” With systematic evaluation, the benefits of evaluation may increase, but so may its costs, risks, and constitutive effects.
There has been little interest in how evaluation systems can be changed, modified, or improved, not to mention deinstitutionalized, if necessary. What are our options? For example, can a variety of stakeholders deliberate about the consequences of an evaluation system, and can it lead to policy change?

Bio

Peter Dahler-Larsen, PhD and dr scient pol., is professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Denmark. He is the author of “The Evaluation Society” (Stanford University Press”), “Quality. From Plato to Performance” (Palgrave) and editor of “A Research Agenda for Evaluation.” (Elgar). He is past president of European Evaluation Society and honorary member of the Danish Evaluation Society.

School o Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series
Title: The Mind and Body Connection - Findings from Group Support Psychotherapy Research among Persons Living with HIV in Uganda
Presenter: Prof Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu
Date: Wednesday 31 May 2023
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: Room 103B, Clarice Pears Building, 90 Byres Rd. This talk will be delivered remotely but we welcome you to join us for some lunch and view the lecture in room 103B with Prof Helen Minnis chairing the lecture.
Chair: Prof Helen Minnis

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here

Abstract

This public lecture explores the intricate relationship between mental and physical health, focusing on findings from group support psychotherapy research among persons living with HIV in Uganda. Persons living with HIV often face unique mental health challenges, such as depression, post-traumatic stress and anxiety, which exacerbate HIV-related physical symptoms and impacts overall health outcomes. Group support psychotherapy has emerged as an effective, culturally sensitive first-line psychological intervention that provides a safe and supportive environment for depressed individuals to share experiences and develop social connections, coping strategies and income generation skills.
The lecture highlights the positive impact of group support psychotherapy on mental health outcomes among persons living with HIV in Uganda, including improved social support, coping skills and income generation coupled with reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stigma. Furthermore, improvements in mental health are associated with enhanced physical health outcomes, such as improved treatment adherence, and better viral suppression. These findings underscore the importance of addressing mental health as part of a comprehensive approach to overall health and well-being among individuals living with HIV. Implications for mental health care among persons living with HIV in Uganda and beyond include emphasizing the importance of integrating culturally sensitive mental health interventions into existing HIV care platforms, and allocating resources to mental health infrastructure. By investing in mental health care and promoting interventions such as group support.

Bio

Dr. Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu is currently an associate professor of psychiatry at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. She works toward making psychotherapy more culturally appropriate, particularly for people living with HIV and depression. She has developed a highly cost-effective group support psychotherapy program that can be delivered by lay health workers and which has been shown to dramatically reduce depression symptoms and improve anti-viral medication adherence and viral suppression in those affected. Her research earned her the 2016 Elsevier Foundation Award, and a Presidential National Independence Medal of Honor on 8 March 2016 – International Women's Day. Recently, she was listed among the BBC 100 most inspiring and influential women in 2020. She completed her medical degree and Master of Medicine in Psychiatry at Makerere University in 1998 and 2006 respectively. In 2012, she attained a doctoral degree in psychiatric epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University, USA. Her work has been published in the Lancet HIV and Lancet Global Health. She has received funding from MQ: Transforming Mental Health, Grand Challenges Canada, the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, United States Agency for International Development (Development Innovation Ventures), and the Child Relief International Foundation.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series  

Title: Observational data to inform clinical guidelines – how far can we go?

Date: Wednesday 26 April 2023

Time: 1-2pm, a light lunch will be served beforehand at 12.30pm

Presenter: Dr Laurie Tomlinson

Chair: Prof David McAllister

Venue: Room 103AB, Clarice Pears Building, 90 Byres Rd, G12 8TB

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here 

Abstract:

Clinical guidance has historically been based on randomised clinical trial evidence. However, there are areas of important need where treatment recommendations cannot be made due to lack of robust evidence to inform them. In the UK we are fortunate to have a wealth of routinely-collected healthcare data which can be used to study important health questions such as the effects and safety of prescribed drugs, which may be particularly important when there is uncertainty despite trial evidence. The data are also rapidly available, low cost to analyse, and provide evidence about drug effects in the whole population. However, concerns about sources of bias and confounding in routine healthcare data currently limit its use. In this talk I will discuss examples of policy-relevant research from COVID-19 and beyond, and consider the barriers to wider use of observational data in guidelines.

If you cannot attend in person but would like to join online please do so with ZOOM HERE

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series  

‌Title: Shining a Light on the Invisible: Relational trauma, injury and access to care.

Presenter: Dr Adam Burley

Date: Wednesday 29 March 2023

Time: 1-2pm (a light lunch will be provided 30 minutes beforehand)

Venue: 103AB, Clarice Pears Building, 90 Byres Road, Glasgow, G13 8TB

Watch and Listen to the lecture here

Chair: Prof Andrea Williamson 

Abstract & Bio

This talk will argue that we are relational beings from cradle to grave, and that all human activity is, at its core, relational in nature. This is particularly relevant in the area of health care; it being a relationship between a group of people trying to seek care, and a group of people trying to provide it. When all goes well in this relationship then healthcare can happen and those on both side of the care relationship can benefit. Trauma, neglect and other forms of developmental mistreatment also occur within relationships, and can give rise to relational injuries that have both acute and chronic consequences for the individual - particularly when seeking care. This can give rise to a double disadvantage as the individual is both in need of care, but their core ailment makes it difficult or impossible for them to access it. On the other side of the relationship, the relative invisibility of relational injuries means that health care services rarely if ever recognise their presence, and as such do not make the sort of accommodations and adaptations typically provided for more visible physical injuries. This talk will explore these themes in an attempt to shine a light on the invisible, but often life limiting experiences of those people who have severe difficulties in the relationship with care itself.

Adam works as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Simon Community Scotland, a service dedicated to the provision of care to individuals who struggle to access mainstream care, as well as providing input to a wide range of public and third sector organisations across the homeless sector. He graduated from St. Andrews University in 1994 with a psychology degree, before completing a doctorate in clinical psychology in Edinburgh in 1998. He subsequently worked in New Zealand, establishing a clinical psychology service in a rural district working with marginalised populations, before returning to Scotland in 2004 to develop the homeless clinical psychology and psychotherapy service which he currently runs. He has a particular interest in health inequalities, exclusion dynamics, early years and the psychology of adversity.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series  

‌Title: “Confronting Racism Denial:  Naming Racism and Moving to Action” 

Presenter: Professor Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD

Date: Thursday 8 December 2022

Time: 1-2pm (a light lunch will be provided 40 minutes beforehand at LR2, 1 Lilybank Gardens G12 8RZ)

Venue: Yudowitz Seminar room, Wolfson Medical School building, University Avenue G12 8QQ

Chair: Professor Vittal Katikireddi 

Watch and Listen to the lecture here 

Abstract & Bio

Racism is a huge roadblock to achieving health equity in the United States and globally, yet many people are in staunch denial of its continued existence and profoundly negative impacts on health and well-being. Even those who acknowledge that racism exists sometimes feel ill-equipped to say the word “racism” out loud or to take action to address it.

Professor Jones will share four of her allegories on “race” and racism to illuminate four key messages:
• Racism exists
• Racism is a system
• Racism saps the strength of the whole society
• We can act to dismantle racism

Recognizing that racism saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources, she aims to inspire and equip all listeners to engage in sustained anti-racism work.

Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD is a family physician, epidemiologist, and Past President of the American Public Health Association whose work focuses on naming, measuring, and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the United States and the world. She is currently a Leverhulme Visiting Professor in Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London.

Professor Jones was the 2021-2022 Presidential Chair at the University of California, San Francisco. She taught six years at the Harvard School of Public Health, served fourteen years at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was a 2019-2020 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and a 2021 Presidential Visiting Fellow at the Yale School of Medicine. She continues as an Adjunct Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University and as a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine.

Her allegories on "race" and racism illuminate topics that are otherwise difficult for many people across the globe to understand or discuss. Recognizing that racism saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources, she aims to inspire and equip all communities to engage in sustained anti-racism work with three tasks: Name racism. Ask “How is racism operating here?”. Organize and strategize to act.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series  

‌Title: Integrating time-use epidemiology into physical activity research: Examples and future applications.

Presenter: Prof Scott Duncan

Date: Tuesday 4 October 2022

Time: 1-2pm (a light lunch will be provided 40 minutes beforehand, in LR2, 1 Lilybank Gardens, G12 8RZon the corner of Great George st)

Venue: Boyd Orr building, 412 LTB Level 4 Boyd Orr Building University Avenue 

Chair: Dr Greig Logan

Watch and listen to the lecture here

Abstract & Bio

Scott Duncan is a Professor of Population Health at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. His work focuses on the measurement and promotion of physical activity and wellbeing in people of all ages. He has a particular interest in the impact of the built environment on healthy active living.

In this talk, Professor Duncan will introduce the emerging field of time-use epidemiology and its relevance to the measurement and promotion of physical activity. He will share examples of recent work from the Growing Up in NZ Study, NZ’s largest longitudinal study of child development, and Te Hotonga Hapori (Connecting Communities), a five-year natural experiment in urban renewal and community wellbeing. Potential future applications of sensor-based time-use assessment methods will be discussed.

School of Health and Wellbeing Lecture 

‌Title: Expanding the understanding of Long-Term Conditions and Multimorbidity in Rural Malawi 

Presenter: Dr Owen Nkoka

Date: Wednesday 28 September 2022

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Online - zoom link in registration

Register: SHWONkoka 

Chair: Prof Mia Crampin 

Abstract 

Long-term conditions (LTCs) such as diabetes, hypertension, HIV, and stroke are becoming increasingly important. Many people with chronic diseases have multiple LTCs (multimorbidity).  The understanding of LTCs and multimorbidity is limited in low-income settings. In Malawi, we are implementing a Healthy Lives Malawi (HLM) project aimed at creating an intergenerational longitudinal population study of chronic conditions in rural and urban Malawi. The talk provides an overview of the evidence being generated under the LTC Survey in Malawi. Topics will include: (1) Sleep patterns and physical and mental health correlates. (2) The prevalence, distribution, and determinants of multimorbidity. (3) Comparative analysis of diabetes and hypertension prevalence between 2013/15 and 2021/22 in rural Malawi

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series  

‌Title: Accelerating reductions in tuberculosis and HIV in urban Africa 

Presenter: Dr Peter MacPherson

Date: Friday 9 September 2022

Time: 12.20pm for a light lunch which will be offered in LR2, 1 Lilybank Gardens, (on the corner of Great George st). 

Venue: LR2, 1 Lilybank Gardens, (on the corner of Great George st) G12 8RZ

Chair: Prof Jill Pell 

Watch and listen to the lecture here 

Abstract 

Dr Peter MacPherson, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine & Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Clinical Research Programme

In Africa, progress towards eliminating tuberculosis and HIV—among the world’s leading infectious killers—has been too slow and has been severely impacted by COVID-19.

Gains in HIV/TB treatment conceal large disparities. Cities—particularly densely-populated periurban settlements—are now the major foci of undiagnosed disease, yet are poorly served by health programmes, with considerable heterogeneity between neighbourhoods and population groups. Targeting screening, treatment, and prevention interventions to these populations could rapidly reduce undiagnosed infection, accelerating reductions and improving health throughout the whole city.

In this presentation, Dr Peter MacPherson will give an overview of thirteen years of high-resolution surveillance research for HIV and tuberculosis in urban Africa, integrating innovative epidemiological and geospatial disease surveillance tools. He will summarise recent HIV and TB community cluster randomised trials he has led that have informed 2021 WHO guidelines, and that have clearly shown that new approaches to accelerating HIV and TB elimination are needed.

Bio

Dr Peter MacPherson is a Public Health Physician and Reader in Population Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK. He is based full-time in Blantyre, Malawi, where he is Head of the Public Health Research Group. He holds honorary positions as Professor of Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and as Consultant in Communicable Disease Control with the UK Health Security Agency.

Peter holds a five-year Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship. His research focuses on the development and evaluation of interventions to improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of major public health importance in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly tuberculosis and HIV. He is currently Principal Investigator of the PROSPECT Study, a randomised trial evaluating the effectiveness of computer-aided tuberculosis diagnosis, using artificial intelligence software to interpret chest X-rays. He is also Principal Investigator on the HomeACF Study, a household cluster-randomised trial of intensified contact screening for tuberculosis and HIV in two provinces of South Africa.

Peter’s research also has a strong emphasis on using modern statistical and epidemiological methods for inference, particularly including Bayesian statistics, causal inference, and geospatial epidemiological analysis. He leads several large consortia investigating novel methods for surveillance of infectious diseases in resource-limited settings.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Deep learning - what it is, what it can & can’t do for medicine, how it works, and how it’s evolving

Presenter: Prof Robert Insall

Date: Wednesday 31 August 2022

Time: 1-2pm (a light lunch will be provided 30 minutes beforehand)

Venue: Kelvin Hall Lecture theatre 

Chair: Prof J Lewsey

Watch and listen to the lecture here 

Abstract 

Artificial intelligence has become one of the key technologies in medicine, and becomes more important every year.  Deep learning is one of the most important AI methods, particularly when dealing with images or movies.  In this talk I will introduce deep learning, with a particular focus on people who are expert in a biomedical area but not in AI.  I will discuss how it works, at a nontechnical but functional level, the differences between traditional computational approaches and deep learning, how networks are trained, and which areas they are ineffective at, excel at, and will hopefully excel at in the future.   The aim is to help you decide whether deep learning could help you, and if so how to start.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: “ What are the innovations to address the epidemic of cardiovascular diseases?’

Presenter: Dr Dorairaj Prabhakaran  

Date: Thursday 30 June 2022

Time: 12.30 - 1.30pm (a light lunch will be provided beforehand

Watch and Listen to the lecture here 

Chair: Prof Vittal Katikireddi

Bio

Professor D. Prabhakaran is a cardiologist and epidemiologist by training. He is an internationally renowned researcher and is currently the Vice President- Research & Policy, Public Health Foundation of India, Executive Director of Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi, India and Professor (Epidemiology) London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. In addition he holds Visiting Scientist position at Harvard School of Public Health, position of International Fellow at McMaster University, Canada and Madhu and Hari Varshney Visiting Professorship at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He is also the Head of the WHO collaborating Centre for Surveillance, Capacity building and Translational Research in Cardiometabolic Diseases in South East Asia region. He was elected as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 2011 and Fellow of the National academy of Sciences , India in 2011. He is currently the chair of the Science committee of the World Heart Federation.

His work spans from mechanistic research to understand the causes for increased propensity of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among Indians, to developing solutions for CVD through translational research and human resource development. He has received funding from NHLBI, Wellcome Trust, European Commission and several other international and national funding bodies. He has mentored over 50 post-doctoral and doctoral students so far. He has authored several chapters and over 550 scholarly papers with an H index of 98. He has been listed as the topmost researcher in Medicine in India in terms of publications for the years 2009-2014 by Scopus and Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and recently listed among the top 2% of World’s researchers by the Stanford University with a very high ranking in Medicine and Cardiology. Recognising his contribution to Indian Science, he was elected as a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the highest science academy of India. He has won several awards and accolades, including the Quality Champion by the Quality Council of India.

His exceptional contributions spanning  Science, Medicine and Public Health has catapulted the field of Preventive Cardiology in India and the Low and Middle-income countries.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: “How to Break Something by Fixing It” 

Presenter: Prof Jay Kaufman

Date: Wednesday 25 May 2022

Time: 1-2pm

Watch and Listen to the lecture here 

Chair: Prof Ruth Dundas 

Abstract

Centres of population health research, like University of Glasgow’s Institute of Health & Wellbeing, are enriched by the interface
between disciplines and the exchange of methods and ways of thinking from one academic culture to another. One of the
more interesting and dynamic interfaces at places like the IHW is between epidemiology and economics, fields with rich but
distinct traditions of data analysis and causal discovery. I will describe some of the differences in worldview between these
fields, and then illustrate with the handling of clustering, as both an analytic challenge (hierarchical data) and as a design
strategy (matching). Causal tools from one discipline reveal the limitations and dangers of the practices that characterize the
other. I review the good, the bad and the ugly from fixed effects designs like exposure-discordant siblings, and how insights from
both epidemiology and economics balance the pros and cons of this method in health research.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Conceptualising access to healthcare: Candidacy – a revised formulation 

Presenter: Dr Jess Potter 

Watch and Listen to the lecture here

Chair: Prof Kate O'Donnell

Abstract

Healthcare access is of central importance to early disease detection and treatment thus affecting the health and well-being of individuals and populations.  However, researching healthcare access is hampered by lack of a broadly applicable conceptual understanding.  In this seminar we will discuss what is meant by 'healthcare access' and consider the methods available to study it. In particular, we will focus on 'candidacy' - a construct derived from a critical interpretive synthesis of literature on health service accessibility for vulnerable groups by Dixon-Woods and colleagues. The authors’ description of how an individual becomes a candidate for care facilitates a complex understanding of healthcare access as a dynamic, contextual, social process.  Reviewing literature which has applied candidacy and bringing in analysis of my PhD research exploring migrants' experiences of accessing healthcare in the UK, I draw out an extended and abstracted formulation of candidacy.  The empirical data I draw upon includes 14 biographic narrative interviews with migrants and 10 in-depth interviews with health service gatekeepers. 

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: How Research Data Scotland is creating the conditions to innovate with data.

Presenter: Prof Roger Halliday

Date: Wednesday 30 March 2022

Time: 1-2pm

Watch and Listen to the lecture here

Chair: Prof Ruth Dundas

Abstract

Research Data Scotland has been established to simplify access to and use of data that is connected around a person, place or business. It is doing this to drive systematic data innovation with the aim of improving economic, social and environmental wellbeing, delivering precision public health, and reducing inequalities. Professor Roger Halliday will talk through where we currently are, and the plans to speed up access to data, widen the range of data, and of services, and think through what this means may be possible in future.

Bio

Roger Halliday started as Chief Statistician in November 2011. Before that, he worked in the Department of Health in England as a policy analyst managing evidence for decision making across NHS issues.

He qualified with a degree in statistics in 1993 from St. Andrews University and joined the Government fast stream as an assistant statistician. He worked for various UK Government Departments and at the Scottish Government in a number of statistical and policy making roles. His areas of expertise are around transforming services with data, and has experience working in the fields of health, children, learning, skills and the economy.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Friendship and Health

Presenter: Prof Robin Dunbar

Watch and Listen to the lecture here 

Date: Wednesday 23 February 2022

Time: 1-2pm

Chair: Dr S Letina

Abstract

Friendships have a bigger effect on our psychological health and wellbeing, as well as our physical health and wellbeing, than anything else we can do. Friendships are, however, extremely expensive to create and to maintain, both in terms of the time we have to invest in them and in terms of their underpinning neuropsychology.  These set limits on the numbers of friends we can have, and how they benefit us. I’ll explore the behavioral, cognitive and neurobiological bases of these limits, and how we vary in these respects.

Bio

I attended Magdalen College School, Brackley, and then went to Magdalen College to read PPP (Psychology & Philosophy), graduating in 1969. After completing a PhD on the behavioural ecology of primates at Bristol University, I went to Cambridge on a SERC Advanced Research Fellowship (URF). I subsequently held research and teaching posts at Stockholm University (Zoology), University College London (Anthropology) and Liverpool University (Psychology and then Biology) before returning to Oxford in 2007.  I became Emeritus Fellow in 2017.  In 2021, I was elected a Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Science & Letters. 

My research focuses on the evolution of sociality in primates and other mammals (in particular, feral goats and klipspringer antelope). This has involved understanding the constraints on social group size, and the strategies that different species exploit to break through the glass ceilings these impose. This brings together understanding brain evolution, the relationship between brain regions, cognition and behaviour, the role of the neuroendocrines (in particular, endorphins) in social bonding, and the role of time as a climatically-driven constraint on grouping.

Abstract

to follow

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Using an advanced routine healthcare data systems to improve population health, clinical care and inform policy: the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

Presenter: Prof Ronan Lyons

Watch and Listen to the Lecture here

Date: Wednesday 26 January 2022

Time: 1-2pm

Chair: Prof David McAllister

Bio

Professor Lyons has more than 25 years’ experience in the use of linked data to support research and clinical processes to improve patient and population health. In 1993, he created the West Glamorgan Injury Surveillance System, which developed into the All Wales Injury Surveillance System. In 2006, wrote the grant that led to the creation of the well-known Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (www.saildatabank.com). He was PI of the Wales component of the Farr Institute from 2013-2018 and Director of the HDRUK Wales and Northern Ireland site and national director for public health research from 2018-2021. He was also Deputy Director of the ESRC funded Administrative Data Research Wales initiative and is currently Associate Director of the MRC funded Dementias Research Platform UK.

He is PI for the Wales Multimorbidy Cohort and its derivative, the MRC funded Controlling COVID (ConVOV) through Data Linkage platform, which supports policy relevant research in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

His presentation will describe the development of these systems and the establishment of vibrant Welsh, UK and international team science developments to answer important questions using diverse real world examples.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Large population based longitudinal studies of long-term conditions in low income sub-Saharan Africa: a vision for the future 

Presenter: Prof Mia Crampin 

Date: Wednesday 24 November 2021

Time: 1-2pm

Watch and Listen to the lecture here

Chair: Dr David Blane

Abstract

Population based longitudinal studies of long-term conditions in low income sub-Saharan Africa: A vision for the future
In low income countries of sub-Saharan Africa, there is an ageing population and an increasing burden of long-term communicable and non-communicable diseases, the majority of which are undiagnosed and untreated, in the context of chronically under-resourced and often fragmented health services.
To improve population health (and to enable and measure progress towards sustainable development goals), “data” are required to understand the important long-term conditions including the drivers, the barriers to care and the long term sequelae. Key amongst these long-term conditions are treated HIV, undiagnosed hypertension and diabetes, chronic lung diseases, depression/anxiety and multimorbidity. There is a complexity of factors, including early-life, genetic and environmental influences, that increase or mitigate risk. Paramount in research into long-term conditions is the timely translation of data into research findings that influence policy and allocation of health resources, with local ownership and capacity to capitalise on the public health intervention opportunities created.
The challenge in LIC SSA is to effectively, sustainably, equitably and ethically generate large-scale, population-based biomedical databases and biorepositories, linking in-depth longitudinal health and genetic information that is discoverable and accessible to the global research community.
Two initiatives will be described, the nascent African Population Cohorts Consortium and the University of Glasgow affiliated Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit newly funded cohorts.

Bio

I attended Magdalen College School, Brackley, and then went to Magdalen College to read PPP (Psychology & Philosophy), graduating in 1969. After completing a PhD on the behavioural ecology of primates at Bristol University, I went to Cambridge on a SERC Advanced Research Fellowship (URF). I subsequently held research and teaching posts at Stockholm University (Zoology), University College London (Anthropology) and Liverpool University (Psychology and then Biology) before returning to Oxford in 2007.  I became Emeritus Fellow in 2017.  In 2021, I was elected a Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Science & Letters. 

My research focuses on the evolution of sociality in primates and other mammals (in particular, feral goats and klipspringer antelope). This has involved understanding the constraints on social group size, and the strategies that different species exploit to break through the glass ceilings these impose. This brings together understanding brain evolution, the relationship between brain regions, cognition and behaviour, the role of the neuroendocrines (in particular, endorphins) in social bonding, and the role of time as a climatically-driven constraint on grouping.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Being Productive and Staying Well: A personal perspective 

Presenter: Prof Carron Shankland  

Date: Wednesday 29 September 2021

Time: 1-2pm

Register: Watch and Listen to the Lecture 

Chair: Prof Jim Lewsey

Abstract

These are challenging times for us all: our workload has gone through the roof, everything seems to take twice as long as usual (at least!), we are separated from our support networks, and the future is uncertain. Carron will talk about mental (ill) health in academia and specifically her own realisation of ill health with the goal of opening up the session up to allow everyone to share their stories and strategies for staying well.

Bio

Carron Shankland is a professor in Computing Science at the University of Stirling. Carron does teaching (undergraduate programming languages, and interface design), a load of pastoral care (tutees and project students), leadership (director of learning and teaching, which involves a lot of bureaucracy), and right now, not very much research. (Who has time for research with everything that’s going on?) Carron is passionate about inclusion in computing: she is building DiVERct: a good practice network of computing and electronic engineering departments engaged in diversity and inclusion work. She’s won awards (2017 Scottish Women's Awards for services to science and technology, 2016 Suffrage Science Award). In the pandemic and lockdown she has been staying grounded with lots of gardening with her partner Pat (they’ve been in a civil partnership since 2006). When the pandemic is finally over, she’s planning to get back to understanding the behaviour of biological systems through mathematical and computational models (ironically, models of disease dynamics).

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Innovations in Clinical Care:  Group Prenatal Care to Improve Maternal and Child Outcomes

Presenter: Prof Jeannette Ickovics 

Discussant: Dr Fraser Birrell  Director of Science & Research for the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr Fraser Birrell will provide a brief update on progress embedding group care models across the NHS, the NIHR adopted national evaluation project, plus the rapid growth of virtual group consultations and Lifestyle Medicine itself during the pandemic. 

Date: Wednesday 25 August 2021

Time: 10-11am

Watch and listen to the lecture

Chair: Prof Rod Taylor

Abstract

Worldwide, there are nearly 140 million births annually. Neonatal health sets the trajectory for health across the lifespan, and prenatal care is a major determinant of outcomes for newborns and their mothers. Group prenatal care has proven to be as good or better than traditional individual care based on a variety of outcomes such as preterm birth and NICU admissions as well as maternal postpartum depression and weight trajectories. Professor Ickovics will describe a programme of research – from randomized controlled trials through implementation studies – designed to improve prenatal care as well as maternal and child outcomes.

Bio

Professor Jeannette R Ickovics is the Dean of Faculty at Yale-NUS College and Professor of Social Sciences. She has been affiliated with Yale University since 1989, first as a post-doctoral scholar, and she continues to serve as the inaugural Samuel and Liselotte Herman Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health and Professor of Psychology at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University. She was the Founding Chair of the Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health and Founding Director of Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE).

Dean Ickovics is a dedicated teacher, mentor and scholar. Her research investigates the interplay of complex biomedical, behavioural, social and psychological factors that influence individual and community health. She has worked in the areas of maternal-child health, mental health, and multi-sector approaches to chronic disease prevention. Dedicated to social justice, equity, inclusion and diversity, she uses this lens to examine challenges faced by those often marginalised by the healthcare system and by society. She has expertise running large, scientifically rigorous clinical trials in community settings. Her community-engaged research – funded with more than US$40 million in grants from the US National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and foundations – is characterised by methodological rigour and cultural sensitivity. She is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. Dean Ickovics is recipient of honours and awards, including recent election as Fellow of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and the Strickland-Daniel Mentoring Award from the American Psychological Association.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Open and FAIR – how can we make modelling support public policy better?

Presenter: Dr Richard Reeve

Date: Tuesday 8 June 2021 

Time: 1-2pm

Watch and Listen to the lecture

Chair: Ms Ruth Dundas

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted concerns from both the academic community and lay experts in a variety of associated disciplines from medicine and public health to computing that policy advice coming from the specialists is not sufficiently clearly connected to the data sources and models on which it depends. Such concerns reach well beyond the current pandemic, and unnecessarily damage the credibility of the evidence being provided. As we move into a era where unwelcome policy advice may be more prevalent than ever, we need to ensure that it is as transparent as possible to reduce the attack surface for those that seek to undermine it, as well as making its evidence base as accessible as possible for those who want to help make that evidence stronger. I will discuss the diverse problems we have identified with the current approaches that are being taken to address this problem, and demonstrate a potential route out of this quagmire.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Chess, not chequers: the need for a complex systems approach to public health

Presenter:  Prof H Rutter

Watch and listen to the lecture

Date: Wednesday 28 April 2021

Time: 1-2pm 

Chair: Prof S Simpson

Abstract

The prevalence of chronic diseases is increasing, inequalities are widening, and the resources to respond are ever more constrained.

There are no simple answers to any of this, but an important part of the problem may lie in the ways in which we conceptualise these challenges, grounded in traditional models of cause and effect. Reconceptualising these challenges in ways that truly take account of their complexity allows us to generate more relevant kinds of evidence, construct more meaningful practical and policy responses, and evaluate those responses in more appropriate ways. This talk will explore these themes, and propose ways in which they might be achieved.

About the speaker

Harry Rutter is professor of global public health at the University of Bath, senior academic adviser to Public Health England, and holds adjunct professor positions in both Norway and Ireland. He was the founder director of the English National Obesity Observatory, led the development of the English National Child Measurement Programme, and chaired the NICE group on guidance on walking and cycling. His research is focused on effective mechanisms for improving the research, policy and practice responses to complex systems problems in public health, with a particular focus on obesity, physical activity, and non-communicable diseases.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: ‘Upscaling’ qualitative research: new promises, old pitfalls? 

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Presenter: Dr Conny Guell

Date: Tuesday 16 March 2021 

Time: 12 noon - 1pm

Chair: Professor Jim Lewsey 

Abstract 

There is an increasing drive towards making better use of existing data rather than producing new research – doing more thinking rather than more research (Greenhalgh, 2012) – but this is particularly challenging and problematic for qualitative data. Techniques for qualitative evidence synthesis are growing and producing new conceptual insights beyond their original studies. At the same time, recent secondary data analysis calls have initiated drives to pool primary qualitative data and share with external researchers.  Secondary qualitative data analysis with often unusually large datasets require new thought and methods such as machine learning and text analytics software. I will speak about these new promises of pooling data and AI, but also about persistent pitfalls in qualitative synthesis. These include how to retain the context in which data have been collected, analysed and framed, and how to produce conceptually rich insights without direct input from the primary researchers.  

About the speaker 

Conny Guell is a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Environment and Human health. As a medical anthropologist, her research focuses on how healthy living practices are shaped in various socio-cultural, political and economic contexts. Her work is based in the UK, the Caribbean region and elsewhere. Conny is particularly interested in developing social theoretical and qualitative methodological approaches for exploring the social and physical environments that shape health practices and policies. She is principal investigator of the Active Travel Synthesis study, developing a sociological approach to behaviour change through synthesising existing qualitative UK datasets using meta-ethnography and machine learning approaches [Academy of Medical Sciences HOP001\1051].  

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: What price quality aged care?  Assessing the views and preferences of the general public for quality and future funding of aged care.

Presenter: Professor Julie Ratcliffe

Date: Thursday 18 February 2021 

Watch and listen to the Seminar HERE 

Chair: Professor Emma McIntosh

Abstract

In common with many other aged care systems internationally the aged care system in Australia is currently under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Systemic failures and shocking incidences of abuse and neglect have prompted a Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety which will undoubtedly recommend significant sector wide reforms when it delivers its final report later this year. This presentation will focus on the background and rationale, methods and results from a large-scale study prepared for the Commission to elicit the views and preferences of over 10,000 members of the general public aged 18-91 years for quality of care and the future funding of aged care. The findings highlight the strong significance that members of the general public place on the care of our most vulnerable citizens and that quality in aged care is highly valued. This study provides unique insights and provides an important and timely societal perspective for informing aged care policy and practice in Australia and in other countries including the UK which share similar values, aspirations and circumstances.

Julie Ratcliffe is a Mathew Flinders Fellow and Professor of Health Economics in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University. She also holds an honorary professorial appointment at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. Professor Ratcliffe is the inaugural Health and Social Care Economics theme lead for the newly established Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University. Professor Ratcliffe has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles related to the economics of health and social care policy appearing in leading medical and discipline specific journals including Journal of the American Medical Association, Age and Ageing, The Gerontologist and Health Economics. During the course of her career she has contributed to over 50 multi-disciplinary research projects including grants awarded by the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council as the lead investigator. She has been appointed to a number of committees including the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) Council on Economic Policy and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Expert Advisory Group for the Development of Social Care Economic Evaluation Methods for informing NICE Social Care Guidelines. Professor Ratcliffe is the current elected President of the Australian Health Economics Society (AHES).

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: Seeing people in poverty as rational actors

Presenter: Professor Daniel Nettle 
Date: Tuesday 20 October 2020
Chair: Dr David Blane

Watch and listen again  

Abstract

In public health, we often see the decisions made by people living in poverty as problems to be fixed, or mistakes to be corrected. An alternative is to treat people in poverty as rational actors, and ask the question: what must be true about the circumstances that they are facing such that this ends up being their rational choice? This change in perspective causes us to focus more on changing people’s circumstances – a collective and political endeavour – and less on changing or criticising their behaviour or mindset as individuals. I will review examples of this perspective from my own work on early childbearing, health behaviour and obesity. I am not sure my case studies are entirely convincing, but they may constitute a valuable corrective to a widespread way of thinking.

About the speaker

Daniel Nettle received his PhD in Anthropology from University College London. He has worked a wide range of topics, and studies both human behaviour, and the behaviour of non-human animals, particularly starlings. His personal research website is danielnettle.org.uk. Since coming to Newcastle in 2004, he has taught mostly on the Psychology BSc undergraduate programme and the MRes programme in the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

Areas of expertise

Human and animal behaviour
Ageing and health

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Understanding the health consequences of educational attainment: triangulating evidence from genetic and non-genetic causal inference approaches

Presenter:  Professor George Davey Smith

Date: Friday 29 May 2020

Time: 1-2pm 

Chair: Professor Kate O'Donnell

Watch and listen to the Seminar HERE 

About the speaker

George Davey Smith was a member of the noise-terrorism outfit Scum Auxiliary in the early 1980s. Since artistic and commercial success eluded them, he has had to earn his living working as an epidemiologist in the provinces. 

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Public Health Implications of the New Science of Sunlight

Presenter:  Ms Linda Geddes

Chair: Prof Danny Smith

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Abstract

Linda Geddes is an award-winning British science journalist and author. She spent nine years working at New Scientist magazine as news editor, features editor and reporter, and remains a consultant to the magazine. Linda has received numerous awards for her journalism, including the Association of British Science Writers’ award for Best Investigative Journalism. Her most recent book “Chasing the Sun: The New Science of Sunlight and How it Shapes Our Bodies and Minds” explores the significance of sunlight, from ancient solstice celebrations to modern sleep labs, and the impact on public health of light-polluted cities and excessive exposure to bright lights from devices. This talk will focus on how public health can address exposure to light as an intervention to improve population health and wellbeing.

About the speaker

Linda Geddes is an award-winning British journalist and author writing about the science of sex, death, and everything in-between. Here you will find selected articles, details of her books, and her blog. LINDA GEDDES 

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: With a little help from my friends: social relationships and their impact on mental health and wellbeing

Presenter:  Professor Louise Arseneault

Listen here L Arseneault seminar

Chair: Prof Danny Smith

Abstract

This presentation will emphasize 4 main points: 1) social relationships can be considered as targets for interventions aiming at both reducing risk factors associated with poor mental health and building the resources necessary to help face life’s challenges; 2) longitudinal studies are crucial to test whether social relationships have an impact on mental health problems – and not just the other way around: 3) genetically-sensitive data are key to providing strong evidence that social relationships have an effect on mental health problems, and are not all due to genetic confounds; and 4) the life course approach contributes to illustrate the impact of social relationships across the life span and not just during one key period.

About the speaker

Louise Arseneault’s research focuses on the study of harmful behaviours such as violence and substance dependence, their developmental origins, their inter-connections with mental health, and their consequences for victims. She is taking a developmental approach to investigate how the consequences of violence begin in childhood and persist to mild life, by studying bullying victimisation and child maltreatment. Louise also studies the impact of social relationships including social support and loneliness on mental health. Her research aims are to answer questions relevant to psychology and psychiatry by harnessing and combining three different research approaches: developmental research, epidemiological methods and genetically-sensitive designs. Louise’s work incorporates social as well as biological measurements across the life span.

Louise completed her PhD in biomedical sciences at the University of Montreal and moved to the UK for a post-doctoral training at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre. She has been working with well-known longitudinal cohorts such as the Montreal Longitudinal Cohorts, the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study and the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of families with twins in England and Wales. She has also been exploring another important nationally-representative cohort, the National Child Development Survey (NCDS).

Louise was appointed the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Mental Health Leadership Fellow. Louise’s fellow role with the ESRC includes providing intellectual leadership and strategic advice in the priority area of mental health. It is a broad agenda including engaging research communities, promoting collaborations, advocating for mental health research, championing the co-design and co-production of research and providing advice to the ESRC and other research councils. Throughout the three year fellowship, Louise plays a vital role in championing the role of the social sciences in mental health research. She provides advice on how social science research can best address the challenges that mental health poses for our society, communities and individuals.

Louise Arseneault was elected as Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in May 2018, She joined 47 new Fellows, who have been elected for their outstanding contributions to biomedical and health science, leading research discoveries, and translating developments into benefits for patients and the wider society.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: The role of New and Emerging Data in Understanding the health-equity implications of transport policies

Presenter: Prof Susan Grant-Muller

Date: Monday 20 January 2020

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Senate room, Main building, University Avenue

Chair: Prof Jim Lewsey

Abstract

to follow

About the speaker

Susan is Professor of Technologies and Informatics at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds and a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute.
Susan leads the Digital Futures theme at ITS and a programme of research into the role of new forms of data in developing sustainable transport policy.
A statistician by discipline she is concerned with the use of social media, mobility profiling and the role of web enabled technologies in transport and related sectors.
Her current interests lie in understanding the health and equity impacts of ICT enabled mobility infrastructure and the governance models for micro-level user-generated data.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Governments as partners in knowledge generation: Observations on alcohol policy and research in Australia and New Zealand 1999-2019

Presenter: Professor Kypros Kypri

Date: Wednesday 27 November 2019

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz lecture theatre, Wolfson Medical School building, University Avenue

Chair: Dr Vittal Katikireddi

Register HERE

Abstract

Governments routinely make policy decisions that have implications for the health of populations they serve, often from outside the remit of the health department. To what extent are they informed by science and could the decisions themselves be opportunities to inform future policy? I will speak about major policy changes in Australia and New Zealand, between 1999 and 2019, concerning the availability of alcohol. I will discuss the limitations of administrative data for answering important questions, and how we might realise Donald Campbell’s vision of “The Experimenting Society”, with a view to improving public health.

About the speaker

I am a professor in the School of Medicine & Public Health where I hold a Senior Brawn Research Fellowship.

I was trained in experimental and clinical psychology at the University of NSW, University of Otago, and University of California San Diego from 1994-1998. I completed a PhD in injury epidemiology at the University of Otago in 2002. With the input of many colleagues I have established an alcohol research group at the University of Newcastle which is the hub of several national and international collaborative projects. These address a range of methodological, aetiological and intervention questions concerning the burden of injury and disease attributable to alcohol consumption. I have a growing interest in how the alcohol industry shapes science and policy, and in research integrity, including how research is funded.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series

Title: Mood Disorders and Creativity

Presenter: Professor K Redfield Jamison

Chair: Prof Daniel Smith

Watch the recording HERE 

Details: Kay Redfield Jamison is the Dalio Family Professor in Mood Disorders at Johns Hopkins University. She has a long and distinguished career in mood disorders research and is co-author of the standard medical textbook on bipolar disorder “Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression.”  Professor Jamison is also the author of several best-selling books, including An Unquiet Mind, Night Falls Fast, Exuberance and Touched with Fire. Her book An Unquiet Mind vividly documents her own experiences of living with bipolar disorder and Touched with Fire explores the link between mood disorders and creativity. Her recent biography of the American poet Robert Lowell “Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire” was shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize. Professor Jamison is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: Machine learning in policy evaluation: new tools for causal inference

Presenter: Dr Noemi Kreif

Date: Tuesday 14 May 2019

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical Building, University Avenue

Chair: Dr Claudia Geue 

Register HERE

Abstract

While machine learning (ML) methods have received a lot of attention in recent years, these methods are primarily for prediction. Empirical researchers conducting policy evaluations are, on the other hand, pre-occupied with causal problems, trying to answer counterfactual questions: what would have happened in the absence of a policy? Because these counterfactuals can never be directly observed (described as the “fundamental problem of causal inference”) prediction tools from the ML literature cannot be readily used for causal inference. In the last decade, major innovations have taken place incorporating supervised ML tools into estimators for causal parameters such as the average treatment effect (ATE). This holds the promise of attenuating model misspecification issues, and increasing of transparency in model selection. This talk aims to review and illustrate some of these recent developments incorporating machine learning in the estimation of the ATE of a binary treatment, under the unconfoundedness and positivity assumptions. I will first briefly review supervised machine learning, including trees-based methods, the lasso, and ensembling approaches, in particular the Super Learner. I then review and illustrate the following uses of machine learning: 1) to create balance among treated and control groups, 2) to estimate so-called nuisance models (e.g. the propensity score, or conditional expectations of the outcome) in semi-parametric estimators that target causal parameters (e.g. targeted maximum likelihood estimation or the double ML estimator) 3) the use of machine learning for variable selection in situations with a high number of covariates. Throughout I use an illustrative case study of the evaluation of a health insurance programme in Indonesia, highlighting their potential benefits as well as the challenges, compared to more traditional approaches.

About the speaker

Noemi Kreif joined the Centre for Health Economics in 2016 as a Research Fellow in Global Health Economics. She holds a PhD (2013) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her PhD and post-doctoral (Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship) work focussed on advancing statistical methods for economic evaluation that uses observational data, resulting in publications in leading health economics and statistics journals, such as Health Economics, Statistical Methods in Medical Research and American Journal of Epidemiology. Her current work is centred on econometric evaluations of health policies in low and middle-income countries, with a continued interest in applying advanced causal inference and machine learning tools. 

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: Towards Computational Persuasion for Behaviour Change Applications.

Presenter: Professor Anthony Hunter

Date: Wednesday 20 March 2019

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical Building, University Avenue

Chair: Professor Neil Hawkins

Abstract

The aim of behaviour change is to help people to change aspects of their behaviour for the better (e.g., to decrease calorie intake, to drink in moderation, to take more exercise, to complete a course of antibiotics once started, etc.). In current persuasion technology for behaviour change, the emphasis is on helping people to explore their issues (e.g., through questionnaires or game playing) or to remember to follow a behaviour change plan (e.g., diaries and email reminders). However, recent developments in computational modelling of argument (a subfield of AI) are leading to an alternative approach to persuasion that can potentially be harnessed in behaviour change applications. In this approach, a software system and a user can exchange arguments in a dialogue. So the system gains information about the user’s perspective, and it can provide arguments to fill gaps in the user’s knowledge, and to overturn misconceptions held by the user.  Our work has focused on modelling the beliefs and concerns of the user, and harnessing this model to make the best choices of move during the dialogue for persuading the user to change their behaviour.  During this talk, the background to, and components of, our approach will be presented together with some promising preliminary results with participants. 

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: The neglected health needs of Malawi…..multimorbidity, inequalities and the double burden of malnutrition

Presenter: Professor Mia Crampin

Date: Thursday 20 December 2018

Watch the video here 

Mia qualified as a doctor in 1989 in the UK, initially specialising in infectious disease and microbiology, but after a DTM&H in 1993, she took up training post in Public Health, completing an MSc in Public Health in 1995 and her specialist training in Public Health in 1998. After 3 years as Lecturer in the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at King’s College School of Medicine and Dentistry, she joined LSHTM in 1997, moving to Karonga to take up a post as Field Epidemiologist at the Karonga Prevention Study (as it was then known). Mia has remained with Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit ever since in a variety of scientific and management roles.

The School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 2018/19

Title: 1. Developing Artificial Intelligence Applications for the Primary Care Domain

         2. The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (The HUNT Study): Possibilities for research and collaboration

Presenter: Professor Paul Mork and Associate Professor Kerstin Bach

http://media.gla.ac.uk/web/researchinstitutes/IHW/events/mauriceblochannuallectureseries/kerstinbach.mp4

http://media.gla.ac.uk/web/researchinstitutes/IHW/events/mauriceblochannuallectureseries/paulmork.mp4

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 2018/19

Title: 1. Developing Artificial Intelligence Applications for the Primary Care Domain

         2. The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (The HUNT Study): Possibilities for research and collaboration

Presenter: Professor Paul Mork and Associate Professor Kerstin Bach

Date: Thursday 1 November 2018

Time: 1pm-2.30pm, a light lunch will be served beforehand at 12.30pm

Venue: Senate Room, Main Building, University Ave

Chair: F Mair

REGISTER HERE  Prof Mork and Prof Bach

Professor Paul Jarle Mork and Associate Professor Kerstin Bach - from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, are leads of the EU funded ‘selfBACK’ consortium of which GPPC (Dr Barbara Nicholl and Prof. Frances Mair) is a partner – the study relates to the self-management of low back pain using a smartphone app.  They have kindly agreed to present some of their work on Norwegian epidemiology data and artificial intelligence in digital health while they are here. 

Abstract: 

1. Over the last years Artificial Intelligence (AI) has received a wide attention from the medical field as applications have shown to excel in certain tasks where repetitive and data intensive tasks need to be solved. However, the development of sustainable applications remains challenging and is highly depending on the interdisciplinary collaboration during the development as well as the understandability and explainability to increase trust in the application from stakeholders. Unlike in specialised care, personalised medicine in primary care is less explored and today's possibilities with more detailed data provided by patients and/or the healthcare system will influence how decisions are made. In this talk we will present recent trends from AI research as well as two applications that are currently under development that show how AI can be used to enhance patient care and services in primary care. Specifically, we will present how Case-Based Reasoning is used as decision support for patients and clinicians treating musculoskeletal disorders such as low back pain.

2. The HUNT Study is among the largest population-based health studies worldwide. It is a unique database of personal and family medical histories collected over three intensive surveys (HUNT1 in 1984-1986, HUNT2 in 1995-1997, and HUNT3 in 2006-2008). More than 126,000 individuals (13 years and above) have participated in one or several of the foregoing HUNT surveys. The fourth HUNT survey (HUNT4) started in September 2017 and will be finished in February 2018. Data collection in the HUNT Study has been done with questionnaires, interviews, measurements (blood pressure, body composition etc.), blood- and urine samples, and clinical examinations. HUNT Databank includes a large amount of health information for each participant, which makes the HUNT Study suitable for a broad range of research topics. For some participants the amount of data points (variables) is more than 1000. In HUNT4, the HUNT protocol has been extended to include 1-week objective measurement of physical activity. We expect to collect data from about 40,000 adults (≥20 years) and 10,000 adolescents (13-19 years). This presentation will focus on the possibilities for using and getting access to the HUNT data and discuss some of the future perspectives for research based on the HUNT data.

Biography

Kerstin Bach Kerstin Bach is an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. She is the project manager of the selfBACK project and her core competence field is Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. She is currently deputy head of the Data and Artificial Intelligence group and associated with the Norwegian Open AI Lab. She was awarded her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Hildesheim, Germany. Her main research interest are data-driven decision support systems as well as knowledge-intensive Case-Based Reasoning. The main focus of her work are methods for applied artificial intelligence. While the application domains differ, we are investigating how to make knowledge and experience available through intelligent systems. Moreover, how to build systems that support complex, knowledge-intensive decisions using heterogenous data sources.

Paul Mork Paul Jarle Mork is a Professor at the Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. He is project coordinator for the EU funded project selfBACK. He is member of the HUNT4 project group and responsible for all clinical measurements. He is also leading the project on objective measurements of physical activity in HUNT4. Main research interests include 1) epidemiological studies on prevention and risk factors of non-communicable diseases (musculoskeletal disorders and the role of lifestyle factors), and 2) development and implementation of mHealth solutions to improve self-management of musculoskeletal disorders and facilitate follow-up of patients in primary care.

‌School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: Thirty Years of Studying Families  at High Risk for Depression: What’s Been Learned Along the Way?

Presenter: Professor Myrna Weissman

Date: Monday 16 April 2018

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz seminar room, Wolfson Medical Building, University Ave

Chair: Professor Jonathan Cavanagh

WATCH THE SEMINAR HERE 

Abstract: 

The highlights of a 30-year longitudinal study of families at high and low risk for major depression will be described. High risk is defined as having a biological parent in the first generation with moderate to severe major depression. When the study began, there was scepticism as to whether depression could occur before adolescence, whether depression was primarily a disorder of menopausal women. 30 years and 3 generations later the results clearly show that depression is highly familial, the first onset usually occurs in adolescents and young adulthood; there are recurrences throughout life;  disability in work and social life and increase risk of death from unnatural causes, in the generation at high risk.  Other clinical findings learned along the way as well as newest data from MRI studies will be presented

Biography:

Dr. Weissman is a Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and Chief of the Division of Epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). She is a member of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Columbia. Until 1987, she was a Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Yale University School of Medicine and Director of the Depression Research Unit. She has been a Visiting Senior Scholar at the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. She received a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Yale University School of Medicine in 1974.

Her research is on understanding the rates and risks of mood and anxiety disorders using methods of epidemiology, genetics, neuroimaging, and the application of these findings to develop and test empirically based treatments and preventive intervention. Her current Interest is in bringing psychiatric epidemiology closer to translational studies in the neurosciences and genetics. She directs a 3-generation study of families at high and low risk for depression who have been studied clinically for over 25 years and who are participating in genetic and imaging studies. She directs a multi-center study to determine the impact of maternal remission from depression on offspring. She is one of the PIs in a multi-centered study to find biomarkers of response to the treatment of depression. She was one of the developers of Interpersonal Psychotherapy, an evidenced-based treatment for depression.

Dr. Weissman has been a consultant to many private and public agencies, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science.   She has been the author or a co-author of over 600 scientific articles and chapters, and 11 books. She has been the recipient of numerous grants from NIMH, NARSAD Senior Investigators Awards; grants from other private foundations and numerous awards for his research. She is on the editorial board in many journals including JAMA Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry and Depression & Anxiety.

In April 2009, she was selected by the American College of Epidemiology as 1 of 10 epidemiologists in the United States who has had a major impact on public policy and public health. The summary of her work on depression appears in a special issue of the Annals of Epidemiology, Triumphs in Epidemiology.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: When an entire country is a cohort study

Presenter: Professor Mads Melbye

Date: Tuesday 13 February 

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical Building, University Avenue

Chair: Professor Jill Pell

Abstract: 

The demands for very detailed, large and complete data in health research is rapidly growing. Denmark has a long tradition for building population-based registries. It has earned a preeminent reputation for possessing the most complete and interwoven collection of data touching on almost every aspect of life. What makes the databases a plum research tool is the fact that they can all be linked by a 10-digit personal identification number. Recently, a public-private partnership led to the establishment of the Danish National Biobank, which is an organization including a physical biobank with more than 6 million biological specimens, a biobank register that points to more than 24 million biospecimens in biobanks nationwide, representing 5.4 million individuals, and a coordinating centre assisting researchers in getting access to the specimens. Professor Melbye will present this incredible research infrastructure including many examples from his own research that takes advantage of the unique information in registries and biobanks. 

Biography:

Mads Melbye is Visiting Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, and President and CEO at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. Previous positions at e.g. the National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA, before he became State Epidemiologist in Denmark, and later Head of Department of Epidemiology Research, Director of Division of Epidemiology, and most recently Director of Division of Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance and The Danish National Biobank, Statens Serum Institut. Previous academic positions as Danish Research Council Professor, NORFA professor, Foreign Adjunct Professor at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and Professor in Medical Epidemiology at Copenhagen University. He has written more than 550 publications (H-index: 81 (Web of Science) and is the Dane with most papers in high impact journals in general medicine (NEJM, Lancet, JAMA). He is associate editor of Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and editorial board member of several scientific journals.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

This Maurice Bloch Seminar will be delivered remotely

Title: What's wrong with "evidence-based medicine" and how can we do better?

Presenter: Professor Andrew Gelman

Date: Friday 19 January 2018

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Rm 201, Flat Hall McIntyre building

Chair: Dr Jim Lewsey

Abstract:

"Evidence-based medicine" sounds like a good idea, but it can run into problems when the evidence is shaky.  We discuss several different reasons that even clean randomized clinical trials can fail to replicate, and we discuss directions for improvement in design and data collection, statistical analysis, and the practices of the scientific community.  See this paper:  

Biography: 

Andrew Gelman is a professor of statistics and political science and director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University. He has received the Outstanding Statistical Application award from the American Statistical Association, the award for best article published in the American Political Science Review, and the Council of Presidents of Statistical Societies award for outstanding contributions by a person under the age of 40. His books include Bayesian Data Analysis (with John Carlin, Hal Stern, David Dunson, Aki Vehtari, and Don Rubin), Teaching Statistics: A Bag of Tricks (with Deb Nolan), Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models (with Jennifer Hill), Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (with David Park, Boris Shor, and Jeronimo Cortina), and A Quantitative Tour of the Social Sciences (co-edited with Jeronimo Cortina).

Andrew has done research on a wide range of topics, including: why it is rational to vote; why campaign polls are so variable when elections are so predictable; why redistricting is good for democracy; reversals of death sentences; police stops in New York City, the statistical challenges of estimating small effects; the probability that your vote will be decisive; seats and votes in Congress; social network structure; arsenic in Bangladesh; radon in your basement; toxicology; medical imaging; and methods in surveys, experimental design, statistical inference, computation, and graphics.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: Value Frameworks for Health Care: Is Oncology a Special Case?

Presenter: Professor Andrew Briggs

Date: Tuesday 28 November 

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Gannochy Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical Building, University Avenue

Chair: Dr Cathy Johnman

LISTEN TO THE SEMINAR HERE

Where next for value frameworks?

Abstract: 

In this prevention Professor Briggs will present some reflections on the obsession with value frameworks in the US.  Building on work that came out of his recent sabbatical to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, together with conceptual and empirical work with colleagues at University of Glasgow, he will look at the evidence that we should look beyond health in our elusive search for value and ask whether cancer (or indeed other diseases) should be treated differently when it comes to value assessment.

Biography:

Andrew Briggs holds the William R Lindsay Chair in Health Economics at the University of Glasgow, having joined the University in 2005. Previously, he held the position of Reader in Health Economics at the University of Oxford’s Health Economics Research Centre (HERC). In addition, he spent the academic year 1999/2000 at the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines (CEM), at McMaster University and he remains a research associate of both CEM and HERC. Andrew has expertise in all areas of health economic evaluation. He has particularly focused on statistical methods for cost-effectiveness analysis, including statistical methods for estimation of parameters for cost-effectiveness models as well as statistical analysis of cost-effectiveness alongside clinical trials. Andrew recently took a leadership role as co-chair of the Joint Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) and International Society for Pharamacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Task Force on Modelling Methods. He is also the author of two successful textbooks, one published by OUP entitled Decision Modelling for Health Economic Evaluation, and another published by Wiley entitled Statistical Methods for Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. In addition to his role at the University of Glasgow, he also serves as Editor of the journal Health Economics and is on the editorial board of Value in Health.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: The role of epidemiology in understanding the impact of military life on mental health and well-being: challenges, benefits and opportunities

Presenter: Professor Nicola Fear

Date: Tuesday 31 October

Time: 1pm a light lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Western Infirmary Lecture Theatre (WILT)

Chair: Dr Beverly Bergman

Abstract: 

This lecture will cover the role epidemiology plays in the military mental health research with a particular focus on the work being carried out by the King’s Centre for Military Health Research at King’s College London.  This work includes studies on service personnel, veterans and family members (including children and partners).  

Biography:

Military/occupational epidemiology; risk taking, behaviours and suicide.  Currently involved in a large cohort study examining the health (mental and physical), lifestyle and career consequences of military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

‌Title: Prisoner health is public health: Health and health service outcomes for people who experience incarceration

Presenter: Professor Stuart A. Kinner

Date: 7 October 2016

Time: 1pm, a light lunch will be served beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz Seminar room, Wolfson Medical Building

Chair: Dr Matt Maycock

Register: stuartkinner.eventbrite.co.uk

Presentation: Prisoner Health is Public Health

LISTEN TO THE SEMINAR

Abstract

The world prison population now exceeds 11 million and continues to grow. More than 30 million people cycle through prisons and jails globally each year. People who cycle through prisons are distinguished by profound socio-economic disadvantage and complex health problems, such that incarceration provides a regrettable but important opportunity for identifying and addressing unmet health and social needs, and improving outcomes for these vulnerable individuals after they return to the community. Prisons therefore have an important role to play in public health, but there is growing evidence of poor health, social and criminal justice outcomes for people released from prison, such that the net effect of incarceration is often health depleting. In this presentation I will review what is known about health outcomes and patterns of health service utilisation for people released from prison, and describe some promising strategies for improving these outcomes. I will conclude by arguing for increased investment in the health of ex-prisoners on human rights, public health, criminal justice and economic grounds.

Biography

Professor Stuart Kinner is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University in Australia. He also holds Honorary appointments at The University of Melbourne, Monash University, University of Queensland, and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. He sits on the Board of Directors and Co-Chairs the Research Committee in the NIDA-sponsored Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health, co-convenes the Justice Health Special Interest Group in the Public Health Association of Australia, and since 2005 has served on Australia’s National Prisoner Health Information Committee.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series ‌

Speaker: Professor Anne Rogers

Title: The power of activating personal social networks to manage health & well-being:  optimising connections and mobilising resources

Date: Tuesday 29 March 2016

Time: 1-2pm lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz seminar room, Wolfson Medical School

Chair: Professor Frances Mair

Abstract 

It is increasingly recognised that  increasing the effective targeting and promotion of self-care support for long-term conditions requires a focus on patient contexts and networks.  This session aims to:

i) present evidence from research which has explored how the power and capacity of personal networks can take the aspiration of self- management beyond the confines of traditional medical and health care settings.

ii)  present the development and implementation of  GENIE – a  web based tool which comprises: network mapping; user-centred preference elicitation and need assessment; and facilitated engagement with resources

Biography

I am interested in supervising in the following areas with a focus on the use of qualitative methods: Sociological approaches to understanding and implementing long term condition management .Sociology of Mental Health and Illness, including cross-cultural analysis of stigma and approaches to managing mental health, Health Policy (Mental Health/Long term condition management). The role of weak ties and pets in long term condition management.

Primary research group:  Innovative and Essential Care

Research projects

Whole System Informing Self-management Engagement (WISE)

The Health Lines Study: expanding the role of NHS Direct in the management of long-term conditions

Exploring the potential of ‘telehealth’ (internet and the telephone) to improve care for people with long term conditions.

National Evaluation of Whole Systems Demonstrator Sites

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series ‌

Speaker: Professor Pratima Murthy

Title: Addiction treatment services in India- bridging chasms, not just gaps

Date: Thursday 26 November 2015

Time: 1-2pm lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Seminar Room A/B - lower level

Chair: Dr Kenneth Mullen

ABSTRACT

is a flat world after all….

And with that come many unintended consequences as well.  India, like many other countries in the world, is facing a growing problem of addiction. While licit drugs like tobacco and alcohol continue to pose significant public health problems, illicit drugs are not uncommon and pharmaceutical drugs are on the rise. Our clinics are beginning to see a slow, nevertheless steady increase in behavioural addictions. 

Several factors influence the substance use scenario. Wide geographical and cultural heterogeneity, gender, socio-economic inequities, low availability, affordability and access to services all contribute to huge treatment gaps for addiction. The magnitude of the consequences of substance use is still not completely understood and the responses are still fragmented. Although the prevalence rates for substance use are relatively lower compared to many other countries at present, the numbers requiring attention are staggering. Responses and innovations exist, but there is a great need for a systematic and coherent response to address the growing problem of substance use and addiction in India. 

I

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series ‌

Title: Optimising health literacy and access (Ophelia): a fresh approach generating fit-for-purpose, equitable health care service improvements

Presenter: Professor Richard Osborne

Date: Friday 9 October 2015

Time: 10am tea and coffee will be served 30 minutes beforehand this seminar will be followed by a master class.  

Venue: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, Level 5 Suite

Chair: Dr Ingrid Young

Abstract

Professor Osborne will introduce the Ophelia (Optimising Health Literacy and Access) process which is being implemented in a wide range of settings. Ophelia, developed in Australia, is being applied in Asia and the EU. Following the release of the WHO-SEARO / Deakin Health Literacy Toolkit for Low- and Middle-income countries, Ophelia and related tools have been used in the emergency, hospital, primary care, and community settings. It is being regarded as a fresh and equitable approach to community intervention development and service improvement. 

Biography

Professor Richard Osborne is Professor of Public Health at the School of Health and Social Development, a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, and WHO Consultant based at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. 

He is an epidemiologist and health services researcher. In 1995 he completed a lab and epidemiology PhD in breast cancer survival. He then joined the Centre for Health Program Evaluation, Monash University, to develop the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instrument. In 1996, with a NHMRC Public Health Postdoctoral Training Fellowship, he joined the Centre for Genetic Epidemiology, Melbourne University, supervised by Prof John Hopper. This included a year at the Dept of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical Centre, The Netherlands.

He was then awarded a NHMRC Population Health Career Development Award Fellowship (2006-10). This work was recognised by the NHMRC as 1 of the 10 Best Research Projects 2012, chosen from among the thousands of NHMRC-funded medical research projects in Australia.

He has also received a Universitas 21 Solander Fellowship (1996) Lund University, Sweden, and in 2011 he was awarded the Arthritis Victoria Lorin Prentice Memorial Award for contribution to musculoskeletal research.
He joined Deakin in 2009 and holds academic leadership roles: Chair of Public Health, Co-Director of Population Health Strategic Research Centre, and Associate Head School (Research). With these responsibilities, he is a Chief Investigator (CI) on a NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence, NHMRC Partnership Project and a NHMRC Project Grant.

In the past 5 years he has published/in press 81 papers has an H index of 30. He was Associate Editor of the US journal, Arthritis Care & Research. He supervised 6 PhD scholars to completion, and currently supervises 6 PhD scholars. His career research income as Chief Investigator is over $18million and he has had continuous NHMRC funding since 2004.

Masterclass:             Health Literacy and the re-orientation of the concept of patient centred care – putting care and equity at the centre

Facilitated by:          Prof Richard Osborne,  Dr Alison Beauchamp, Public Health Innovation, School of Health and Social Development Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Richard and Alison will introduce novel approaches to clinical and community consultation processes. Participants will see how their professional and personal experience (local wisdom) can be used generate fit-for-purpose and implementable interventions to improve patient experience, health outcomes and equity. 

PROGRAMME FOR MASTERCLASS

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Speaker: Professor Eric Anderson

Title: The Declining Significance of Masculinity

Date: Wednesday 16 September

Time: 1-2pm lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre

Chair: Dr Matt Maycock

PLEASE NOTE - video recording will take place at this event

Abstract 

In this evidenced-based talk, Professor Eric Anderson highlights how decreasing cultural homophobia has lead to the softening of adolescent men's masculinities. In addition to finding decreased homophobia, increased emotional disclosure with other men, his work shows increased physical tactility between straight men (kissing, cuddling and loving). Although less explored, his research also suggests that young men are less willing to take unnecessary risks, have less interest or need to fight, have less interest in organised competitive team sports, and less interest in smoking. Accordingly, his theory, Inclusive Masculinity Theory, maintains implications for those in the field of health. 

Biography

Prof Eric Anderson is Professor of Sport, Masculinities & Sexualities at the University of Winchester. He holds four degrees, has published 12 books, over 50 peer-reviewed articles, and is regularly featured in international television, print and digital media. 

Professor Anderson is recognized for research excellence by the British Academy of Social Sciences and is a fellow of the International Academy of Sex Research.  His work shows a decline in cultural homohysteria leading to a softening of heterosexual masculinities. This permits heterosexual men to kiss, cuddle and love one another; and promotes inclusive attitudes toward openly gay athletes and the recognition of bisexuality. His sexuality work finds positive aspects of non-monogamous relationships and explores the function and benefits of cheating.

Professor Anderson also writes about sport psychology, distance running, and the social problems of organized team sports. Most recently, he is working on the problem of brain trauma in youth sports.

He is available for consultancy, training, speaking, and media requests.  

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series ‌

Title: Tobacco Harm Reduction and Electronic Cigarettes: What's Happening and Where Next?

Presenter: Professor Linda Bauld

Date: Monday 17 August 2015

Time: 11am, tea/coffee will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, Level 5 suite

Chair: Professor Laurence Moore

Abstract

'Tobacco harm reduction and electronic cigarettes: what's happening and where next'

Smoking rates in the UK have halved since the 1970s, but one in five adults still smokes. In 2013, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidance on tobacco harm reduction, recommending alternative approaches for smokers who find it particularly hard to stop and who may benefit from cutting down en route to quitting and/or from long term access to cleaner forms of nicotine (such as NRT) to prevent relapse. The UK remains the only country in the world to have such guidance. It also touched on electronic cigarettes, new nicotine delivery devices not currently licensed as medicines and whose popularity has soared since 2010 - there are now over 2.6 million users in Great Britain alone. Both NICE and the MHRA have made it clear that using e-cigarettes is safer than continued smoking, and evidence is accumulating of their effectiveness for smoking cessation. Yet considerable controversy surrounds their use and forthcoming Scottish and EU legislation will regulate them in a number of different ways. This presentation will outline what we know about e-cigarettes, their implications for tobacco control, and speculate on what the future may hold for smokers, vapours and children who currently neither smoke nor vape. 

Biography

Linda Bauld is Professor of Health Policy, Director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Dean of Research Impact at the University of Stirling. She is also Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies and serves as Cancer Research UK’s cancer prevention champion (the CRUK/BUPA Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention). Linda has a background in applied policy research and her research focuses on the evaluation of public health interventions. She has conducted studies on drug and alcohol use, inequalities in health and, most notably, on tobacco control and smoking cessation. She is a former scientific adviser on tobacco control to the UK government and currently chairs a number of policy and research committees in Scotland and England. 

Research Interests: Public Health policy, tobacco control, smoking cessation, drug and alcohol policy

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Title: Public Health, Health Inequalities and Neo-liberalism. 

Presenter: Professor Paul Bissell

Date: Monday 20 April

Time: 1pm lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: Wolfson Medical Building, Gannochy seminar room

Chair: Dr Sara MacDonald

Abstract: 

In this talk, Paul Bissell reflects on the one of the ironies of contemporary public health policy and practice in its engagement with form of evidence around the social shaping of unequal health outcomes. Public health, with its epistemological roots in the discipline of social epidemiology, now increasingly privileges explanations for the social gradient in health with reference to evidence of the extent of social inequality, particularly income inequality. Whilst the mobilization of this evidence has been highly successful in terms of galvanising public debate about the deleterious health and social impacts of inequality, it comes at a time when there is relatively little engagement between social epidemiology and the discipline of medical sociology, which historically and currently has much to offer those interested in understanding how inequality shapes health. In particular, there is now growing interest and scholarship in medical sociology on how neo-liberal practices discourses and practices might differentially impact the body. 

Paul Bissell summarises this literature and argues for greater rapprochement between epidemiology, public health and medical sociology. Drawing on some recent work exploring shame and dependency, he explores some of the avenues for critical dialogue – and the tensions – that a focus on neo-liberal practices and discourses may bring to debates about the causes of health inequalities.

Biography

Currently, I am a Professor of Public Health, Director of the Public Health Section and a member of the senior management team within the School of Health & Related Research (ScHARR).  I studied politics and sociology as an undergraduate (BA Econ), then completed an MA (Econ) in Applied Social Research and subsequently, a PhD in medical sociology, all at the University of Manchester.  I worked as a contract researcher on various public health (University of Salford) and public policy projects (Universities of Manchester and Cardiff) from 1988 to 2001 before getting a lectureship in social pharmacy at the University of Nottingham (2001 - 2006).  I then returned to Public Health in ScHARR at The University of Sheffield in 2006.  At the risk of sounding disingenuous, ScHARR (and The University of Sheffield) is far and away the most pleasurable academic institution I've worked in simply because there remains a strong commitment to interdisciplinary, high-quality research and teaching as ways of shaping the outside world.  Whilst at Sheffield, I have had a number of roles.  I was the Director of the Master of Public Health course as I came into post (2008-2010) and I am now the Director of the Erasmus Mundus EuroPubHealth programme and have been interested in how we might strategically develop the interface between learning and teaching and research in the School.  I am now the Section Director for Public Health.

School of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 

Presenter: Professor David Stuckler

Time: 2.30-3.30pm a light lunch will be provided 30mins beforehand

Date: Friday 21 November 2014

Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Building

Chair: Dr Vittal Katikireddi

Abstract:

The global financial crisis has had a seismic impact upon the wealth of nations. But we have little sense of how it affects one of the most fundamental issues of all: our physical and mental health.

This talk, based on Professor Stuckler's research, looks at the daily lives of people affected by financial crisis, from the Great Depression of the 1930s, to post-communist Russia, to the US foreclosure crisis of the late 2000s. Why, it asks, did Sweden experience a fall in suicides during its banking crisis? What triggered a mosquito-borne epidemic in California in 2007? What caused 10 million Russian men to 'disappear' in the 1990s? Why is Greece experiencing rocketing HIV rates? And how did the health of Americans actually improve during the catastrophic crisis of the 1930s? The conclusions it draws are both surprising and compelling: remarkably, when faced with similar crises, the health of some societies - like Iceland - improves, while that of others, such as Greece, deteriorates. Even amid the worst economic disasters, negative public health effects are not inevitable: it's how communities respond to challenges of debt and market turmoil that counts.

The Body Economic puts forward a radical proposition. Austerity, it argues, is seriously bad for your health. We can prevent financial crises from becoming epidemics, but to do so, we must acknowledge what the hard data tells us: that, throughout history, there is a causal link between the strength of a community's health and its social protection systems. Now and for generations to come, our commitment to the building of fairer, more equal societies will determine the health of our body economic.