School of Social and Political Science

Background

I joined Edinburgh as a Lecturer of Global Health Policy in 2024, and currently have a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Global Health & Development at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. My research profile has been shaped by being trained in medical anthropology and subsequently being immersed in the interdisciplinary fields of critical public health and vaccine social science. My research interrogates ideas of health protection, what it means and according to whom - particularly in the context of vaccination & disease outbreaks, and child, reproductive and sexual health. The pursuit of public health equity forms a red thread throughout my research and advocacy, particularly concerning the needs of minoritised communities. 

I have supported UKHSA and CDC with vaccine responses to the transnational spread of poliovirus, and was instructed as an expert witness as part of the Covid-19 Inquiry (Module 4 - vaccine delivery systems and disparities in coverage). I regularly comment for national and international media on vaccination and public health, and have contributed to The Guardian, Forbes, Gavi's Vaccine Works, BBC World News, BBC Africa, New Statesman, Sky News, La Tercera (Chile), El País (Brazil).

PhD supervision to date includes research on immunisation decisions among migrant mothers in London (due to complete March 2025). I sit on the academic advisory boards of several PhD students who are researching dynamic topics that range from the medicalisation of tongue-tie to nationalism and biotech.