Ms Selina Wallis MPH, PGCE

Personal Statement

After qualifying as a science teacher I held several roles as a lay advisor for maternity research and clinical care. I hthen did an MPH in Public Health and since then, ave 17 years’ experience of Public health research, currently I am the Public Involvement Manager for NIHR funded Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/population-health/staff/selina-wallis/publications/

Working previously in HEI in the North West including John Moores and the Tropical, School of Medicine, NHS commissioning and provider organisations, academic institutions and with public bodies. I have a strong academic background with particular interest in studies relating to capacity building in low resource settings, quality improvement in health and patient experience and involvement.

I am passionate about public health and evidence based medicine and the ethics of public health: (non-maleficence, beneficence, health maximisation, efficiency, respect for autonomy, justice, proportionality). As part of this I work towards ensuring that users of services are involved in planning and designing research, as well as having the opportunity to take part and ensuring that science is communicated to the public in ways that is truthful, engaging and promote learning.

I trained as a doula in 2005 and since then have accompanied over 50 women to birth, at home, in hospital, pools, HBAC, twins. I became a doula mentor for Doula UK, trained as a breastfeeding supporter and became interested in malposition, its effect on birth and learnt ways to prevent and resolve it. I set up a yearly retreat for birth workers in the UK and started teaching workshops for doulas and midwives on the use of rebozo and movement to facilitate birth.

I see my work with women, their partners and other birth workers as an art, and part of that is to consciously give love and warmth and meet people’s needs: physical, mental and spiritual; so that they can thrive. I enjoy facilitating connections between people and disciplines, I have worked with organisations including the Nursing and Midwifery Council, MatExp, NCT and presented at conferences and collaborated with an interior designer to work on improving maternity rooms.