I am a Professor of Neonatal Medicine and Child Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), specialising in newborn health and early childhood development and disability, based at LSHTM and the MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit in Entebbe. I am a South Africa-born, UK-trained paediatrician, and hold posts as a Consultant Neonatologist at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust and Academic Training Programme Director for paediatrics at NHS England. My research focuses on the risks and impacts of common newborn conditions on the developing brain, and on how best to support children with developmental disabilities and their families, particularly in Africa. I am a co-founder of Baby Ubuntu, a participatory group programme co-designed with expert parents to promote participation and inclusion for children with developmental disabilities and their families, and to develop strategies that build caregiver skills and agency.

Within the UK, I lead the neonatal, child and family outcomes aspects of the NIHR Maternity Disparities Consortium, whic brings together a diverse range of organisations with expertise in research, capacity building and working with people and communities to improve maternity outcomes and developing future research leaders. I am also one of the lead investigators adapting and evaluating the Baby Ubuntu programme for the UK setting, including a pilot feasibility trial of the programme for young children with complex neurodisability in East London.

I provide technical expertise to the World Health Organization on early interventions for children with developmental disabilities, and to the Gates Foundation on the development of early intervention strategies for newborn brain injury. I lecture on topics related to international newborn and child health, and work closely with the MARCH Centre and the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at LSHTM.

I completed my medical training at the University of Birmingham and my paediatric training in London and Australia. I gained an MSc at LSHTM in 2003, before completing a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship, with my PhD research focusing on the role of perinatal infection in newborn brain injury in Uganda. My postdoctoral research has spanned the development, implementation and evaluation of early intervention strategies for young children with developmental disabilities; kangaroo mother care to improve outcomes after preterm birth in low- and middle-income countries; global landscaping of neonatal Group B Streptococcal infection; and process and impact analysis of a portfolio of early child development interventions.