Em P Margaret Whitehead DBE, PhD, FFPH, FMedSci, FHEA

Research Overview

The purpose of the research team I work with is to produce evidence that can be used to build policies and actions that improve heath and reduce inequalities in health. We recognise that whilst social policies working at the population, rather than individual, level have the greatest potential to reduce health inequalities, they present the greatest challenges for researchers evaluating their impacts. As a result the availability of evidence tends to vary inversely with the potential impact of policies and interventions (Nutbeam 2004). Our team aims to redress this imbalance by producing rigorous world leading research that:
- identifies the social causes and adverse consequences of ill-health that are amenable to intervention;
- identifies how health and social welfare systems exacerbate or reduce these inequalities;
- evaluates the impact of alternative policy approaches;
- and translates this into action on health inequalities.

We utilise the diverse expertise of our multidisciplinary group, applying a systems perspective to inform our three priority policy areas – (A) Macro-level social and economic policies, (B) local public health systems and (C) equitable health service policy. Our approach brings together social epidemiology, in-depth ethnographic and qualitative approaches, historical analysis, policy analysis, cross-country comparisons and systematic review methods to understand and assess how social policies influence health inequalities through their interaction with social contexts. We have strong links with policy and practice communities, locally, nationally and internationally, ensuring that our research leads to real change in policy to reduce health inequalities.