Elena Ratschen

Elena is a Senior Lecturer in Health Services Research, specialising in applied health research using mixed methods, with a particular interest in developing and testing complex interventions.

Much of Elena’s research to date has focused on tobacco smoking and mental health, with a particular focus on smokefree policy implementation in mental health inpatient settings. Elena was centrally involved in the development of NICE guidance and a joint Royal College of Physicians & Royal College of Psychiatrists report in this area and is an active member of expert advisory groups and national partnerships related to smoking and mental health, and has recently been co-opted as topic expert on tobacco and mental health to the NICE tobacco guideline development committee. She leads the Tobacco and Mental Health research theme and chairs the University’s interdisciplinary Tobacco Research Group.

Elena is also developing a research portfolio in the area of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) and health and is the HAI research theme lead for this topic. Read her recent BMJ editorial on Animal-Assisted Interventions.

Before joining the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group in York in 2016, Elena obtained her PhD and held a lectureship at the University of Nottingham (UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies).