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UCL Health of the Public Annual Symposium 2025
Programme
11:00 - Opening remarks from Prof. Marc Stears (Pro-Provost, Policy Engagement & Director, UCL Policy Lab) and Prof. Graham Hart (Director, UCL Health of the Public)
11:05 - Session One | Building a Strong Foundation: Health in the Early Years
12:20 - Lunch and early career researcher poster session
13:20 - Session Two | Ageing Well: Resilience in Older Age
14:35 - Break
14:50 - Session Three | The Lifecourse, Health & Social Care
15:50 - Poster competition prize giving
15:55 - Closing remarks from Prof. Jennifer Hudson, UCL Vice-Provost (Faculties)
Welcome from the Director of UCL Health of the Public, Professor Graham Hart
I am delighted to welcome you to the 2025 UCL Health of the Public Symposium, where we are bringing together experts from across the University and beyond to address some of the major challenges facing public health across the lifecourse.
UCL Health of the Public is a virtual school bringing disciplines together to improve health for all, taking forward ideas presented in the Academy of Medical Sciences report Improving the Health of the Public by 2040.
By collaborating across disciplines, and in partnership with local communities, government, the NHS, the third sector and industry, we aim to have a real impact and work towards healthier futures for all.
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The focus of this year’s symposium will be on early years and older age – two critical stages in life where health risks can accumulate or be mitigated, and where targeted interventions can have a profound and lasting impact.
In addition, a panel of experts will explore the connections between health and social care across different stages of life. They will discuss how early childhood interventions and support can shape long-term health outcomes, through to how social care for older people can support independent living and wellbeing.
From showcasing the work of early career researchers, to engaging with people in our broad community, we hope you find this year’s symposium valuable and enjoy the day.
Graham J Hart PhD FMedSci
Director, UCL Health of the Public
Professor Hart's research interests include sexual risk behaviour and the prevention of HIV and STIs, combining structural, behavioural, and biomedical approaches to prevention and the opportunities afforded by new prevention technologies. He has worked with a wide range of populations at risk of HIV and STIs, nationally and internationally.
Graham is currently: Chair of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Applied Global Health Research Board; Co-Chair of the MRC/FCDO African Research Leader Scheme; Member of the MRC Population Health Strategy Group. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Non-Executive Member of the Advisory Board of the UK Health Security Agency, in which capacity he chairs the UKHSA Equalities, Ethics and Communities Committee.
Session One | Building a Strong Foundation: Health in the Early Years
Chair: Professor Pia Hardelid
Professor of Epidemiology
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
- Bio
Pia Hardelid is Professor of Epidemiology at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, where she leads the Environmental Child Health Research Group.
Her research focuses on the impact of the physical environment and pollution on children’s health and development, the epidemiology of paediatric respiratory infections, and child health inequalities.
Speaker: Professor Helen Minnis
Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Glasgow
Talk title: Prioritising Early Childhood
- Bio
Helen Minnis is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. She has had a longstanding clinical and research focus on the psychiatric problems of abused and neglected children.
She is running randomised controlled trials of interventions for children who have experienced early adversity. She also conducts epidemiological research and is currently focusing on the interplay between abuse and neglect and neurodevelopment across the lifecourse.
She has collaborations with colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, the Universities of Aalborg and Aarhus, Denmark and with the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Speaker: Professor Katie Harron
Professor of Statistics and Health Data Science, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Talk title: The power of linked data for transforming child health in England
- Bio
Katie is Professor of Statistics and Health Data Science at the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health. Her research focuses on using data that are routinely collected from public services to generate evidence on the factors influencing child health and wellbeing.
Katie leads the ECHILD Research Database, which links administrative data from health, education and children’s social care services from birth to young adulthood for 20 million people in England.
Speaker: Dr Rosa Mendizabal-Espinosa
Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer (Teaching), UCL Institute of Education
Talk title: Addressing barriers to childcare services for ethnic minority and disadvantaged families: a qualitative evidence synthesis
- Bio
Dr. Rosa Mendizabal is a Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer (teaching) at the UCL Institute of Education. Her research in Mexico and the UK examines how children and their families navigate public health systems, with a particular focus on stakeholder collaboration to enhance child- and family-centred healthcare. She works closely with policymakers, healthcare providers, and community organisations to co-produce research that informs policy and practice. Through her interdisciplinary and participatory approach, she aims to bridge research, policy, and practice to improve children's health outcomes globally.
The project team for this research is: Dr. Rosa Mendizabal, Dr Kelly Dickson and Professor Lynn Ang from the UCL Institute of Education.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Talk title: Childhood food insecurity trajectories and adolescent eating disorder symptoms: A UK cohort study
- Bio
Dr. Nora Trompeter is a research fellow specialising in the development and maintenance of eating disorder symptoms in adolescents, with a focus on integrating developmental and clinical psychology. Her work aims to better understand how eating disorders develop and present in young people, with the ultimate goal of informing early intervention strategies. Dr. Nora Trompeter completed her PhD on emotion dysregulation and its link to eating disorder symptoms in adolescents in 2022 at Macquarie University, Australia.
Since 2023, she has worked as a research fellow at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. Currently, Dr Trompeter works as part of the EDIFY consortium, a £3.8 million UKRI-funded project focused on early intervention in eating disorders. She leads analyses leveraging data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to identify key risk factors for eating disorders. Additionally, Dr Trompeter is a co-investigator on a NIHR Policy Research Program examining the impact of England's calorie labelling policy on individuals with eating disorders.
Session Two | Ageing Well: Resilience in Older Age
Chair: Professor Andrew Steptoe
Professor of Psychology and Epidemiology
UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
- Bio
Andrew Steptoe is Professor of Psychology and Epidemiology in the Research Departments of Behavioural Science and Health, and Epidemiology and Public Health.
He is also Director of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). His research interests are primarily focused on links between psychological and social processes and physical health, and on population ageing.
Speaker: Paul Farmer
CEO of Age UK
Talk title: Act Now, Age Better
- Bio
Paul joined Age UK as its Chief Executive in October 2022.
Before joining Age UK, Paul was Chief Executive at Mind, the leading mental health charity working in England and Wales. He is a Commissioner at Historic England and a Non-Executive Director for NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board.
Paul co-authored 'Thriving at Work' for the Government, which led to significant changes in workplace mental health, and co-chaired the 5 Year Forward View for Mental Health, leading to additional funding for NHS mental health services.
He has an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of East London. He is an Honorary Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford and The Royal College of Psychiatrists. In 2016, Paul was awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours list for services to mental health.
Paul has seen first-hand both the best and the worst of the ways that older people are treated in our society and wants to play his part in changing the experiences of older people.
Speaker: Professor Nish Chaturvedi
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
Talk title: A life course approach to enhancing resilience to adverse health in older age
- Bio
Nish is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology. She obtained her first degree in medicine at London University in 1985, and then went on to specialist training in general medicine, public health and epidemiology. She was appointed to a chair in the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London in 2000, and then to the Institute of Cardiovascular Science at UCL in 2014.
Her research career includes leadership of international observational studies and clinical trials in understanding and mitigating the complications of diabetes. She leads the Southall and Brent Revisited (SABRE) tri-ethnic cohort, designed to study ethnic differences in risks and consequences of cardiometabolic disease. She was appointed director of the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health & Ageing at UCL in 2017.
In 2020, she was asked to lead the Lifelong Health & Wellbeing Covid-19 National Core Study, uniting research using national anonymised electronic health records and population cohorts.
Speaker: Dr Libby Sallnow
Associate Professor and Head of Department
UCL Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department
Talk title: Unavoidable mortality? Death, dying, and grieving as part of a lifecourse approach
- Bio
Dr Libby Sallnow is an Associate Professor and Head of Department of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department at University College London.
She works as a palliative medicine physician the community setting for the NHS in London and is a guest professor at the End-of-Life Care Research Group at the Vrije Universiteit in Belgium. She is an honorary consultant at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Country Capacity Building in Palliative Care in Kerala, India.
She has helped lead and develop the fields of new public health approaches to end-of-life care, compassionate communities and social approaches to death, dying and loss over the past two decades in the UK and internationally. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Palliative Care and Social Practice and the first author of the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death: bringing death back into life.
Speaker: Jess Kurland
PhD Candidate, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Talk title: Investigating socioeconomic inequality in the impact of Multiple Long Term Condition (MLTC) clusters on emergency and elective hospital admissions among older adults in England
- Bio
Jess is a final year PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL, working under the primary supervision of Professor Paola Zaninotto.
Her research explores the clustering of multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs), with a focus on the relationship between MLTC clusters, socioeconomic position, and health-related outcomes. Prior to the PhD Jess completed an MSc in Population Health (UCL) and a BSc in Human Sciences (UCL).
Her research is co-funded by the UBEL ESRC DTP and The Health Foundation.
Session Three | The Lifecourse, Health and Social Care
Professor Laura Shallcross
Professor of Public Health, UCL Institute of Health Informatics
- Bio
Laura Shallcross is Professor of Public Health and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Informatics.
She led the national VIVALDI (COVID-19 in care homes) study which informed the public health response to COVID-19 in care homes, and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) Social Care working group.
Jason Strelitz
Corporate Director for Adults and Health in the London Borough of Newham
- Bio
Jason’s career has spanned work in the voluntary sector, Government and academia with a focus on poverty and inequality.
He is an honorary associate professor at University College London, and leads Newham Centre for Health and Care Equity, a collaboration between Newham and academic partners to promote health equity.
Jason has a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics.
Early Career Researcher Poster Competition
Posters from UCL Early Career Researchers were displayed in the Winter Garden. This activity was led by the UCL Health of the Public Early Careers Network.
The highest scored posters were awarded prizes at the end of the day by ECN Co-Chairs, Dr Louise Mc Grath-Lone and Dr Peter Godolphin.
Winner:
Engaging the Less Often Heard in Public Health Research Grant Writing: A Case Study of Co-Production Involving Underserved Migrant Mothers in the UK
Dr Kerrie Stevenson, NIHR Doctoral Fellow and Public Health Doctor, The MAMAH Study, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Authors: Dr Kerrie Stevenson*, Ms Kemi Ogunlana*, Dr Yusuf Ciftci, Prof Marian Knight, Prof Robert Aldridge, Prof Fiona Stevenson, Prof Katie Harron (*These authors contributed equally)
Second place:
Social connections and trajectories of multiple long-term conditions among older adults: findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
Robyn Jones, PhD Student, Behavioural Science and Health, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Authors: Robyn Jones, Hei Wan Mak, Anne McMunn, Feifei Bu, Daisy Fancourt
The posters focussed on a wide range of population health research:
Embedding nutrition support in pharmacy practice to support public health: Insights from patient focus groups
Gizem Acar, PhD Student and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, UCL School of Pharmacy
Authors: Gizem Acar, Rachael Frost, Sukvinder Bhamra, Michael Heinrich
Will self-driving vehicles reduce road travel stress?
Paulo Anciaes, PhD, Principal Researcher in Transport and Health, Centre for Transport Studies, CEGE (Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering)
Authors: Paulo Anciaes, Emmanouil Chaniotakis
Cost-utility analysis of DREAMS-START (Dementia RElAted Manual for Sleep; STrAtegies for RelaTives) for people living with dementia and their carers: a within-trial economic evaluation
Lina Gonzalez, MSc, Research Fellow in Health Economics, Department of Primary Care and Population Health, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Authors: Lina Gonzalez, Penny Rapaport, Gill Livingston, Sarah Amador, Mariam O. Adeleke, Julie A. Barber, Sube Banerjee, Georgina Charlesworth, Chris Clarke, Colin A. Espie, Simon D. Kyle, Malgorzata Raczek, Zuzana Walker, Lucy Webster, Monica Manela, Rachael Maree Hunter
Are steps associated with mental health in older adults at risk of dementia?
Yolanda Lau, Final year PhD student, Division of Psychiatry
Authors: Yolanda Lau, Harisd Phannarus, Claudia Cooper, Zuzana Walker, Harriet Demnitz-King, Natalie L Marchant
Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening in China: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Resource-Limited Settings
Miss Anqi (Angela) Liu, PhD Candidate, Research Department of Primary Care and Population Health, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Authors: Angela Liu, Rachael Maree Hunter, Caroline S Clarke, Jiunn Wang
Co-Development and Psychometric Testing of the Infant Feeding Experiences Questionnaire in UK Mothers and Female Caregivers
Ms Sylvie Majorova, Research Assistant, Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Authors: Sylvie Majorova, Dr Andrea Smith, Dr Kristiane Tommerup, Prof Clare Llewellyn
Suicide among patients with dementia: analysis of national consecutive suicide case series data
Dr Hamish Naismith, Alzheimer's Society Clinical Research Fellow, Mental Health of Older People department, Division of Psychiatry, UCL
Authors: Dr Hamish Naismith, Prof Louis Appleby, Prof Nav Kapur, Dr Pauline Turnbull, Prof Alexandra Pitman, Prof Robert Howard, Dr Isabelle Hunt
Does gender inequality explain sex differences in obesity prevalence across the globe?
Dr Cat Pinho-Gomes, Academic Consultant in Public Health Medicine, UCL Institute for Global Health
Authors: AC Pinho-Gomes, B Zhou, M Woodward, M Ezzati
The burden of common mental disorders and their association with diabetes in rural Bangladesh: findings from a population-based cross-sectional study
Malini Pires, MSc, MPH, PhD Candidate, UCL Institute for Global Health
Authors: Malini Pires, Carina King, Sanjit Shaha, Tasmin Nahar, Abdul Kuddus, Naveed Ahmed, Joanna Morrison, Andrew Copas, Ashraf Ahmed, Hassan Haghparast-Bidgoli, Azad Khan, Kishwar Azad, Edward Fottrell
Long COVID, post-viral fatigue syndrome, and fatigue consultation records in children in England using administrative primary care data
Miss Vishnuga Raveendran, PhD Student, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Authors: Vishnuga Raveendran, Claire Thorne, Charlotte Jackson, Pia Hardelid
Modelling Change: Environmental Exposures and Their Intersection with Deprivation
Dr Hadrien Salat, Research Fellow, The Bartlett School of Architecture
Authors: Hadrien Salat, Adriana Ortegon-Sanchez, Laura Vaughan, Kimon Krenz
An overview of antipsychotic prescribing trends (initiation/prevalence) in primary care in the UK from 1995 to 2018
Miss Siti Watiqah Samsuddin, PhD student/Pharmacist, Department of Primary Care and Population Health, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Authors: Siti Watiqah Samsuddin, Claudia Cooper, Joseph Hayes, Juan Carlos Bazo-Alvarez, Patricia Schartau, Irene Petersen
Viral suppression, viral failure and safety outcomes in children and adolescents on dolutegravir (DTG) in Europe and Thailand
Ms Karen Scott, Research Fellow in Epidemiology, MRC CTU at UCL, UCL Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology
Authors: Karen Scott, John O’Rourke, Charlotte Jackson, Luminita Ene, Luisa Galli, Tessa Goetghebuer, Cassidy Henegar, Christoph Königs, Magdalena Marczyńska, Lars Naver, Antoni Noguera-Julian, Paolo Paioni, Jose T. Ramos, Birgitte Smith, Wipaporn Natalie Songtaweesin, Vana Spoulou, Nattakarn Tantawarak, Anna Turkova, Vani Vannappagari, Alla Volokha, Giorgia Dalla Valle, Ali Judd, Siobhan Crichton, Intira Jeannie Collins on behalf of the Epidemiology of Paediatric and Pregnancy Infections Cohort Collaboration (EPPICC)
Maternal contact with social care services and their children’s health and educational outcomes: a data linkage study using mother-baby linkage in ECHILD
Ms Difei Shi, Research Assistant, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Authors: Difei Shi, Matthew Jay, Katie Harron
Mainstream vs. special school: Inequalities in primary school trajectories for children with Down syndrome in England
Mrs. Julia Shumway, PhD Student, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Division of Population, Policy and Practice
Authors: Julia Shumway, Jill Ellis, Ruth Gilbert, Bianca De Stavola, Ania Zylbersztejn
Educational attainment of children with major congenital anomalies in England: a population-based cohort study using the ECHILD database
Joachim Tan, Senior Research Fellow in Health Data Science, NIHR GOSH BRC, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Authors: Joachim Tan, Ayana Cant, Kate Lewis, Vincent Nguyen, Laura Gimeno, Ania Zylbersztejn, Pia Hardelid, Joan Morris, Bianca De Stavola, Katie Harron, Ruth Gilbert
The association between adverse experiences throughout the life-course and risk of dementia in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
Katherine Taylor, PhD student, UCL Division of Psychiatry
Authors: Katherine Taylor, Laura D Howe, Rebecca E Lacey, David Carslake, Emma Anderson, Naaheed Mukadam
Emulating Hypothetical Physical Activity Interventions to Assess Obesity Risk Reduction: Applying Target Trial Emulation in the 1958 and 1970 British Birth Cohorts
Mr Jamie Wong, PhD Student, Research Department of Population Science and Experimental Medicine, UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science
Authors: Jamie L.C. Wong, Manuel Gomes, Michail Katsoulis
Improving Childhood Myopia in Singapore
Yap Tiong Peng, PhD, Mona Patel, MPH, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Authors: Tiong Peng YAP, Mona Patel, Vito Adamo