ECHRG team

The Environmental Child Health Research Group are team of researchers using large, administrative data to study how the local environment affects children’s health as they are growing up.

Professor Pia Hardelid

Prof. Pia Hardelid's primary research interest is in how linked, administrative data can be used for research into the epidemiology of respiratory infections in children, and how physical environment impacts child health. Increasingly, Pia’s work is focused on the impact of the physical environment on children's health and development.

Pia is a Co-Director of the Health Data Research UK driver programme on Social and Environmental Determinants of Health, Co-Director of the UKRI Child And Adolescent Health Impacts Of Learning Indoor Environments Under Net Zero (The Chili Hub), co-lead for the NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre Applied Child Health Informatics Theme, principal investigator for the MRC-funded Air Pollution, housing and respiratory tract Infections in Children: NatIonal birth Cohort study (PICNIC) study and for the Kids' Environment and Health Cohort, funded by Administrative Data Research-UK.

Dr Amal Rammah

Dr. Amal Rammah is a senior researcher at the Institute of Child Health working on the Air Pollution, housing, and respiratory tract Infections in Children: NatIonal birth Cohort study (PICNIC Study) and the Kids’ Environment and Health Cohort. Amal's research has focused on characterising structural and individual determinants of health and health inequalities among vulnerable populations in the built, physical and social environments (including air pollution, temperature, greenness and psychosocial stress), particularly in the areas of maternal and child health.

Dr Selin Akaraci

Dr. Selin Akaraci is a research fellow at GOSH ICH, specialising in environmental epidemiology. Her research focuses on investigating the health impact of urban environments, with a particular emphasis on maternal and child health.

Dr Niloofar Shoari

Niloofar's research lies at the intersection of environmental sciences and public health, with a particular emphasis on the application of Bayesian methods. Currently, Niloofar's focus on utilizing administrative data to investigate the impact of the built environment on the mental health of children and young people. Previously, Niloofar was an MRC Early Career Research Fellow at the Centre for Environment and Health, Imperial College London, where she explored the effects of neighbourhoods on health and educational outcomes in school-age children.

Dr Joana Pereira Da Cruz

Jo is a Research Fellow dedicated to shaping health agendas, with a primary research interest in uncovering the complex interplay between environmental determinants and health outcomes in children and young people. Jo's expertise lies in the integration of health, demographic, socio-economic, and environmental data from varied sources, succinctly mapped to small administrative units.Read more: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/84543-joana-cruz

Dr Glory Atilola

Glory is a Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Epidemiology on the PICNIC project, with the objective to investigate long-term effects and pathways of air pollution exposure and housing conditions on respiratory health outcomes in a national birth cohort of children under 5 years. Glory's research interest lies in the field of exposure science (built environment, noise, poor air quality, microbial pathogens, prenatal influences, chemicals, nutrition, and heavy metals) and population health (respiratory, cardiometabolic, cardiorespiratory, neurological, and immunological disease outcomes).

Faith Miller

Faith is Research Assistant and PhD student. Faith's research uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to study some of the health and social challenges faced during pregnancy and childhood in the UK and South Asia.

Caroline Hart

Caroline is a PhD student working on the Air Pollution, housing and respiratory tract Infections in Children: National birth Cohort study (PICNIC Study). Caroline's interests include in working with birth cohorts to investigate how adverse early life living environments can influence long term health and development outcomes.

Dr Melody Turner

Melody is a MRes student exploring the associations between access to greenspaces and the psychological well-being of children and young people.

Matthew Lilliman

Matthew is the Data Resource Manager at the UCL GOS ICH Child Health Informatics Group. He is UCL's Programme Manager for the KEHC study.