Dr Tracey Chantler
RGN MSc PhD
Research Fellow
Public Health Evaluation
I have been involved in research relating to vaccines and immunisation for 15 years. I also have significant experience of coordinating community health and immunisation programmes in Haiti which included supervising and training health workers in vaccination. My research in this field spans paediatric clinical vaccine trials, organisational, qualitative and mixed methods research in the UK related to the delivery of vaccine programmes, vaccine trial participation, public engagement, acceptance of new vaccines, as well as longer term ethnographic fieldwork related to community engagement, vaccine trials and ethics in western Kenya.
In post-doctoral work I have studied the role and value of recicprocal monitoring in clinical trials, and have been part of a multi-disciplinary research team are developing a mobile health self-monitoring system for patients with heart failure. As part of this research I conducted home visits, to observe how patients were integrating use of this system into their daily lives, and do talk to them about their experiences of adopting technology for self-monitoring.
Centres
Teaching
I teach on the Principles of Social Research (PSR) and the Medical Anthropology for Public Health modules, and co-edited the 2nd edition of the PSR text book. I also supervise in-house and distance learning Masters students and support PhD students.
Research
I am a member of an Immunisation Health Protection Research Unit which is collaborative research group involving Public Health England and LSHTM. Our aim is to widen the concept of evaluation by using broader data sources to derive maximum value for money from the immunization system
I work within the ‘Vaccine Delivery & Confidence’ theme of this unit and I am leading a research study which is evaluating how the national immunisation programme in England is adapting to changes in the health care environment, with a particular focus on programme delivery and performance. I am also a co-investigator of a study that seeks to understand why some parents did not consent to their child being vaccinated as part of primary and secondary school based influenza immunisation pilots. The purpose of this study is to learn more about parental concerns in order to inform the planned national implementation of this programme.
I am also an investigator for a formative and an impact evaluation of two related community engagement interventions being implemented by the International Rescue Commitee in the Benishangul Gumuz Regional State in of Ethiopia and northern Uganda. These interventions aim to promote community co-management of immunisation activities and increase the uptake of vaccination in infants.
Selected Publications
