Ruth Willis BA MSc

Research Degree Student in Public Health

My first degree was a BA in Human Sciences at Oxford University. After completing an MSc in Epidemiology at LSHTM, I joined the Public and Environmental Health Research Unit [now SEHR] in 2004 as a Research Assistant.

Affiliation

Teaching

I contribute to teaching in post-graduate modules in Basic Epidemiology, Environmental Health Policy and Environment, Health and Sustainable Development for the School's Distance Learning programme and in-house MSc courses.

Research

I am interested in both qualitative and quantitative approaches to health and social inequalities. 

I'm a full-time PhD student funded by a UK ESRC/MRC Interdisciplinary Studentship (2007-2011). My PhD research focuses on the social determinants of children's health in five indigenous Achuar communities in the mid Corrientes River, Loreto region, Peru.

From February - May 2010 I was based at the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, on an ESRC funded policy secondment to the Commission's 29th study on Environmental Impacts of Demographic Change in the UK. www.rcep.org.uk/

Between 2004 - 2007 I worked as a Research Assistant in the Unit and contributed to several projects including:

- Indigenous Peoples' Right to Health, an international conference held jointly with NGO Health Unlimited (2004). See www.lshtm.ac.uk/pehru/indig

- UK-based research on 'Cumulative Impacts of Environmental Inequalities' for the Environment Agency (2005 - 2007).

- Participatory research with young people in a Wellcome Trust funded project 'It's our Science, our Society, Our Health'. Run in partnership between LSHTM and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, this in-depth longitudinal qualitative study explored how participatory involvement in science affects young people (and scientists) and their mutual understanding (2005 -2007). See www.lshtm.ac.uk/pehru/ourscience/

- LSHTM's widening participation Aimhigher Summer School Programme (2005 - 2007)

Research areas

  • Child health
  • Environment
  • Health inequalities
  • Public health
  • Social and structural determinants of health

Disciplines

  • Epidemiology

Other interests

  • Environmental Justice
  • Indigenous Health
  • MARCH
  • Interdisciplinary research
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