About
Professor Shakila Thangaratinam, Professor of Women's Health, is the Deputy Executive Dean of Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, and the University Lead for India portfolio. She is a clinical academic, NIHR Senior Investigator, and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, with a nationally and globally recognised research portfolio, leadership experience spanning Higher Education Institutions and the NHS, and expertise in capacity building, teaching and mentoring, industry engagement, and outreach. She leads large-scale, interdisciplinary global and national collaborative networks funded by MRC, NIHR, WHO, NHMRC (Australia), and previously the EU and major Charities – securing over £70M in research income and engaging partners across 40+ countries. Her research has been widely cited in shaping national and global guidelines, including on covid-19 in pregnancy, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, pulse oximetry in newborns, and epilepsy in pregnancy.
Previously, Prof Thangaratinam established and led two WHO Collaborating Centres for Women’s Health - first in London and then in Birmingham - and founded the Barts Research Centre for Women’s Health (BARC, London), and led women’s health themes within NIHR BRC and Patient Safety Research Centres in Birmingham. Within the NHS, as R and D Director for Women's Health in Birmingham and London NHS trusts, she led the development of research infrastructures and facilitated research within the NHS. She founded the Dame Hilda Lloyd Network in the West Midlands and the Katherine Twining Network in East London – regional academic-clinical platforms - to nurture the next generation of researchers and medical and midwifery students. Over the last five years, 40 medical student researchers mentored by her have published, secured academic training posts, and won awards. She has so far supervised 11 postgraduates to completion of their PhD/MD degrees. She established dedicated patient and public involvement groups for women’s health - Katie’s team and The Hildas in the UK and the Equal Voices Alliance (EVA) across 15 countries - to embed the voices of women and girls within research.