ARC ROLE

Principal Investigator 

PROFESSIONAL ROLe

NIHR Professor of Global Child Health and a Community Paediatrican

EXPERTISE AND INTERESTS

Professor Michelle Heys is a UCL and NIHR Professor of Global Child Health and a Community Paediatrician caring for children with cerebral palsy and learning disabilities in Newham, East London.

Her research focuses on improving health systems for children and young people in low-resource settings across the UK, Nepal, India, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Australia, with particular attention to sick newborns, children with neurodisabilities and neurodiversity, those in temporary accommodation, and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Michelle studied medicine at the University of Nottingham, trained in paediatrics in the UK and Australia, and holds a Master’s in Public Health and an MD in life course epidemiology from the University of Hong Kong. She has combined academic and clinical work alongside family life, working part-time between 2004 and 2020.

She holds national leadership roles, including member of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment committee and Chair of the Senior Research Group at the British Association of Community Child Health, influencing research strategy at local, regional, and national levels.