I am a Reader (Associate Professor) in Health History. My research interests cover modern American and British history, particularly gender, health and welfare history, poverty and environmental history. I have published on a range of topics, including women and work, urban public health, occupational and environmental health and maternal health. My most recent book is: When the Air became Important: A Social History of the New England and Lancashire Textile Industries (Rutgers: 2019).
My current research investigates relationships between pregnancy and poverty during the long 20th Century and the disconnect between the services offered and patient engagement. This has involved working with the charity Poverty Alliance.
She is the Co-Director of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare (GCU), a research collaboration between scholars at GCU and Strathclyde Universities. She is on the Steering Group for the Glasgow Medical Humanities Network, and a member of the Scottish Poverty Information Research Unit (SPIRU) and the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health. She is on the editorial board of the journal Social History of Medicine and reviews for several funding bodies, including the Wellcome Trust, ESRC and the Carnegie Trust. She also site on the Queen’s Nursing Institute of Scotland History Committee.