Ms Laurence Blanchard
MPH
Research Fellow
LSHTM
15-17 Tavistock Place
London
WC1H 9SH
United Kingdom
I am a systematic reviewer, Research Fellow and co-lead of the Evidence Synthesis theme at the Centre for Evaluation. My work focuses on nutrition policies, health equity and evidence syntheses methods for evaluating health promotion policies. I have completed a BSc in nutrition/dietetics at the Université Laval (Canada) and a joint master’s degree in public health at the universities of Sheffield & Copenhagen (Europubhealth programme).
Previously, I was part of the Department of Health Reviews Facility of England (collaboration between LSHTM, UCL and University of York) and a Lecturer in public health nutrition at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Before moving to the UK, I promoted healthy eating in school, healthcare and community settings as a public health nutritionnist/dietitian in Canada using both education and policy/structural interventions, and coordinated cancer services for the region of Montreal, Canada.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I am deputy module organiser and a seminar leader for the module Foundations of Health Promotion.
I am a lecturer in the module Fundamental Public Health Nutrition.
I supervise MSc summer projects. Please contact me if you are interested in nutrition policies and/or evidence syntheses.
Research
I have recently completed a series of evidence syntheses funded by NIHR on the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and policy process of policies promoting healthy food environments from a governance perspective, ie whether they are mandatory, voluntary or public-private partnerships.
I am now part of CO-CREATE, an EU-funded project aiming to reduce adolescent obesity (https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/co-create). In this project, I am leading a systematic review relating to social media, mental health and diet and contribute to other projects.
By reviewing evidence on health promotion policies and their context, my research increasingly flirts with the commercial determinants of health but without having these as a primary focus.