I am the founder and Co-director of the International Centre for Evidence in Disability, a research group at LSHTM that works to expand the research and teaching activities of LSHTM in the field of global disability. I have been working at LSHTM since 2002.
I am an epidemiologist by training. I am passionate about improving health equity for people with disabilities, with a particular focus on people living in Low and Middle-Income Countries. I am an NIHR Global Research Professor and lead a large FCDO-funded grant to investigate how to improve disability inclusion in development. I am also a co-founder of the .
Affiliations
Teaching
I co-organise the MSc Study Unit on "Epidemiology in Practice" and am course leader for three MOOCs about disability. I also lecture on Disability on various MSc courses and the Diploma of Tropical Nursing.
I currently the supervisor for three PhD students. Emma Jolley, Desta Debalkie, and Luthfi Azizatunnisa'. They are all investigating different aspects of how to improve healthcare for people with disabilities. I have supervised 15 doctoral students to completion.
Research
My research focuses on disability in low and middle income countries, and I am strongly committed to improving the evidence base to support disability inclusive development. A key focus of my work is around investigating health inequities for people with disabilities, and how these can be mitigated.
Currently, I am
- NIHR Global Research Professor - The Missing Billion: °®ÍþÄÌapp access to healthcare for disabled people in Uganda.
- Co-research director of the FCDO funded PENDA grant - Undertaking 13 impact evaluations of disability inclusive development programmes in resource poor settings.
- Co-Chair of the first Lancet Commission on Disability and Global Health
- Co-founder of the Missing BIllion Initiative - which focuses on improving access to healthcare for people with disabilities globally, by working with governments, donors, healthcare systems and people with disabilities.