Leading expert joins Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences

Posted Thursday 25 November 2010

Professor Ann Bowling is keen to work closely with the local community in her new post at Kingston University and St George's, University of London. One of the country's leading social scientists, Ann Bowling, has been appointed professor of health care for older adults at the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, run jointly by Kingston University and St George's, University of London.

In her new role, Professor Bowling will continue her work on the health care of older people, with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of health services, improving access to those services, and improving patients' ownership of their own care.

Professor Bowling has more than 30 years' experience in research and teaching, and has developed a worldwide reputation for her work on how older people are catered for by health services. She has worked in public health and primary healthcare settings including St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and, most recently, the Royal Free and University College Medical School, where she was a professor of health services' research.

Her recent activity includes a survey on older people's quality of life, research into how patients' expectations of care influence their eventual experiences, and a study on the benefits of exercise for people over the age of 65. Her interests also include evaluating self-management programmes for people with long-term conditions, a field of work that is already prominent in the Faculty.

Funders for her projects include the Medical Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the National Institute for Health Research's Health Technology Assessment programme.

Professor Bowling, who is based at St George's in Tooting, was attracted to the role by the chance to progress her work and the opportunity to work more closely with the local community.

"The themes of my work fit in very well with the work being done in the Faculty and I hope to have productive collaborations with my new colleagues," Professor Bowling said.

"Earlier in my career I did a lot of local community research, and I really enjoyed being hands on and having contact with people. I wanted to have that kind of contact again and being based here among such a diverse community with a range of themes will be great for that," she added.

"You feel like you're doing much more significant work when you're working alongside the community and doing topical, important research that has an impact on local people. That's very rewarding and personally satisfying."

Find out more about Professor Ann Bowling and her work.

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