Ann John | |
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Employer | Swansea University |
Known for | Adolescent mental health, Suicide and Self-harm prevention |
Ann John, FLSW, is a professor of public health and psychiatry at Swansea University Medical School. She chairs the National Advisory Group to the Welsh Government on the prevention of suicide and self-harm. She also serves as an honorary consultant in public health medicine for Public Health Wales and is a trustee of the Mental Health Foundation. [1] [ circular reference ]. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. [2]
John's parents arrived in London from Kerala in 1966. [3] She was born and grew up in London. She was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls [4] [ circular reference ] and then Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School [5] [ circular reference ] where she qualified as a doctor. [6] During her medical degree she intercalated to study sociology, which began an interest in inequality. [3] She earned a Medical Doctorate at Swansea University in 2011, where she established a Suicide and Self-Harm research group. [7] [8]
She moved to Swansea as a junior doctor, where she worked in accident and emergency at Morriston Hospital. [3] John has been a general practitioner, a medical advisor to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and a Clinical Assistant in Psychiatry. [3] She is now an academic researcher and has contributed considerably to research into children and young people's mental health and suicide and self-harm prevention. [9]
Her expertise lie in epidemiology, suicide and mental disorders. [10] She is a Principal Investigator with the National Centre for Mental Health, where she leads the informatics group. [8] She is a Farr Institute Investigator where uses big data to understand mental health in young people. [11] In 2017, after looking at data on psychotropic prescribing from over 300,000 patients aged between 6 and 18 years old, guidance was issued on managing depression and antidepressant prescribing to children and young people (in particular citalopram) and access to talking therapies. [12] [13]
John's Adolescent Data Platform, funded by MQ, is the biggest of its kind for young people's mental health. [14] [15] It brings together scientists from several universities, aiming to make it easier for young people to access quality mental health services. [15] She received an Arts Council of Wales grant to partner with an artist and help young people express what they are thinking. [16] She worked with Self-Harm Research UK (SHARE) to better understand and support people who self-harm. [17]
She developed the Wales strategy for suicide and self-harm. [3] [18] She is particularly concerned about cyberbullying and the impacts it has on young people. [19] [20] In 2018 she found victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to enact suicidal behaviour. [21] [22]
In 2022 John was part of a group examining the use of machine learning in suicide prevention. [23]