I am a pediatric physiotherapist and epidemiologist specialised in disability research. My work in implementation science creates knowledge to improve the lives of children with disabilities and their families. This focus bridges the divide between research and practice, and brings programmes that work to communities in need. I have clinical experience developing, co-ordinating and delivering rehabilitation interventions and health worker training interventions in Australia, Brazil, countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK. I specialised in paediatric care, and my main clinical work is with children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families.
I am an Associate Professor with the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at LSHTM. I have a particular interest in fostering research capacity in clinical settings in lower resourced settings. I am dedicated to elevating my team and nurturing knowledge production. Skilled at programme and research design and evaluation, I currently lead the development of a disability training for health workers, which is part of a wider NIHR grant that aims to improve healthcare access for people with disabilities in Uganda.
My physiotherapy degree is from the University of Queensland, Australia and my MPH and PhD are from LSHTM. My doctoral research provided evidence to improve services for clubfoot in Africa with Zimbabwe as a case study.
I was co-lead of the MARCH Centre C-theme (child theme) from 2019 - 2021 and held an honorary physiotherapist position with University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from 2020 - 2022. I am an Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I teach on the MSc Study Unit on "Global Disability and Health". I also lecture on Disability on the Diploma of Tropical Nursing and the Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.
I contribute to the Public Health in Development MSc course as a personal tutor. I supervise MSc students who undertake their summer projects in topics of disability and global health.
Research
My work generates knowledge to bridge the gap between academia and health service delivery. My focus on implementation science and participatory research advances knowledge to improve health of children with disabilities. Community engagement is embedded in the work that I do, and it improves the relevance, quality and impact of my research. My research is grounded in 20 years experience as a physiotherapist working in underserved communities in Africa, enabling me to identify the most relevant research questions, design and test evidence-based interventions, and implement them successfully. I have led research in over 15 low and middle income countries and my mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) research portfolio advances knowledge on developing and testing interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of children with disabilities and their families.
I am involved in assessing the impact of physical impairment on the quality of life of children and their carers, in addition to the development of scalable interventions. I lead the child development research component within ICED and further information about our projects can be found at www.ubuntu-hub.org
My previous work includes pilot and feasibility studies of a parent group intervention for children with congenital zika syndrome in Brazil and Colombia, supporting an early intervention programme in Rwanda, and building partnership, capability and stakeholder engagement with Stellenbosch University to strengthen health systems in South Africa to achieve universal health coverage for people with stroke.
I support partners through the Global Clubfoot Initiative and am actively involved with the RCUK GCRF group.
Selected Publications
