Area of expertise

Sarah's career mission is to improve the effectiveness of action taken to address health and healthcare inequalities. 

Sarah leads a programme of applied, mixed methods research that enables local government and the NHS to better promote health and healthcare equity.

Alongside her academic role, Sarah works as a Public Health Consultant within the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, North East centre.  Sarah sits on the NIHR Clinical Research NENC Executive, and leads the Public Health Specialty; growing and supporting the delivery of research in the region.  Sarah balances this with working part-time to look after family. 

Fundamental to Sarah's mission is using her boundary spanning role across settings to shape and strengthen links between research and public health systems, policy and practice.

Sarah has secured prestigious fellowships to develop her intersectional career; a MRC/ESRC interdisciplinary doctoral training fellowship (2005-2008) and her current five year HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic fellowship (2019-2024).

Sarah studied Human Sciences at Oxford University and undertook postgraduate studies in Public Health at LSHTM followed by a PhD at UCL.  Sarah has previously worked in Public Health Intelligence (South East Public Health Observatory), Health Protection (Health Protection Agency) and then within local government and across a wide range of NHS settings as a Public Health Registrar (2008-2011) and Academic Clinical Lecturer (2011-2019) whilst undertaking Specialty training in the North East region.

Qualifications

• 2019  Fellow, Faculty of Public Health, UKPHR Specialty membership: FR0974
• 2018  PgCert Advanced Studies in Academic Practice, Newcastle University
• 2018  Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• 2014  Associate Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• 2011  Membership, Faculty of Public Health
• 2009  Diplomate Membership, Faculty of Public Health
• 2009  PhD Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London
• 2005  MSc (Distinction) Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• 2002  MA(Oxf) (1st Class) Human Sciences, Wadham College, Oxford University

Memberships

• Faculty of Public Health
• UK Public Health Register
• Higher Education Academy
• NIHR Clinical Research Network - North East North Cumbria
• NIHR Applied Research Collaboration - North East North Cumbria: Inequalities and Marginalised Communities theme
• NIHR SPHR Fuse: Health Inequalities research programme
• Population Health Sciences Institute: researcher within the Public Health and Health Inequalities theme

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9359-3463

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Applied public health research focusing on understanding and evaluating the health inequalities impact of public health and healthcare systems, policies and interventions. Programmes of research include:

Ongoing

PI: UNFAIR: UNderstanding Factors explaining Avoidable hospital admissions Inequalities - Research study (2019-2024) £345,192 Funder: HEE/NIHR ICA CL fellowship

PI: MINDED: embedding a clinical psychologist in primary care to improve mental health care for patients living in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities within the North East & North Cumbria (2022-2023) £151,248 Funder: NIHR SPCR/SPHR (MHPES)

PI: PRIME: Interventions to address inequalities in mental health in primary care, systematic review (2021-2022) £43,029 Funder: North of England Commissioning Support (NHS)

Co-PI: Process and impact evaluation of C-WorKS: mobilising knowledge across the health system on impacts and responses to COVID-19 (2021-2022) £24,579 Funder: NIHR ARC NENC

Co-I: EQUALISE: Interventions which increase or decrease inequalities in general practice (2021-2022) £282,062 Funder: NIHR HS&DR 

Recently completed

Co-PI: Co-designing a 'Deep-End' network of GPs in the North East and North Cumbria (2020-2021) Funder: NIHR ARC NENC

Co-I: Covid-19 Health Inequalities Impact Assessment for the North East (2020-2021) Core funded: NIHR ARC NENC

Co-I: Levelling up Health:  A practical framework to support action on levelling up health and an evidence review of effective policy and practice (2021) £35,000 Funder: Public Health England

Co-I: Embedding public health and prevention in secondary care (2020) £78,084 Funder: North of England Commissioning Support (NHS)

PI: Upper Gastrointestinal cancer diagnostic care pathway: patient experience and co-design (2017-2018) £37,779 Funder: NHS England

Previously Sarah has been engaged in a broad portfolio of applied public health research:

• Evaluating the equity of access, uptake and use of public health interventions by age, socioeconomic circumstance, ethnicity.
• Reducing inequalities in cancer waiting times and improving services for patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer: exploring patient experience and the opportunities for co-design
• Reviewing socioeconomic inequalities in patient, referral, diagnostic or treatment intervals for lung cancer patients.
• Evaluating the implementation and impact of introducing a network of Public Health Consultants in Secondary Care settings across NENC.
• Analysing content and purpose of Health and Wellbeing Strategies in England and exploring public health risks and implications of English health system reform.
• Evaluating impact of social housing improvements on the health and wellbeing of residents in high-rise flats.
• Understanding the impact of welfare reform on disadvantaged communities in the North East of England.
• Understanding obesogenic environment (extent and nature of food displayed at checkouts of non-food stores).

Sarah is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy and holds a PGcert in Advanced Studies in Academic Practice from Newcastle University.

Sarah is currently educational and clinical supervisor to a public health registrar, academic supervisor to three registrars, an NIHR IPF clinical supervisor, and has previously delivered training for Paediatric Registrars and other NHS-based support. Sarah provides career mentorship to an advanced public health practitioner (NIHR PLAF scheme) and ongoing advice, training and support to those working in public health practice, within OHID, local authorities and the NHS, seeking closer involvement with research.

Sarah supports teaching across the Population Health Sciences Institute and is currently co-supervising:

• NENC ARC inequalities PhD student (exploring equity of access to vaccine programmes)
• MPH student (understanding GP trainee views and experiences of working in areas of socio-economic disadvantage)
• Undergraduate student dissertation (systematic review of interventions to reduce asthma hospitalisations and readmissions in socioeconomically marginalised groups)

• Olivera JN, Ford J, Sowden S, Bambra C. Conceptualisation of health inequalities by local healthcare systems: A document analysis. Health and Social Care in the Community 2022, epub ahead of print.
• Norman C, Wildman JM, Sowden S. COVID-19 at the Deep End: A Qualitative Interview Study of Primary Care Staff Working in the Most Deprived Areas of England during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8689.
• Ford J, Gkiouleka A, Kuhn I, Sowden S, Head F, Siersbaek R, Bambra C, Harmston R, Manji S, Moseley A, Wong G. Reducing Health Inequalities through General Practice: A Realist Review (EQUALISE). BMJ Open 2021, 11, e052746.
• Ford J, Knight J, Brittain J, Bentley C, Sowden S, Castro-Avila A, Doran T, Cookson R. Reducing inequality in avoidable emergency admissions: case studies of local health care systems in England using a realist approach. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 2021, Epub ahead of print.
• Ford J, Sowden S, Olivera J, Bambra C, Gimson A, Aldridge R, Brayne C. Transforming health systems to reduce health inequalities. Future Healthcare Journal 2021, 8(2), e204-e209.
• Tanner L, Sowden S, Still M, Thomson K, Bambra C, Wildman J. Which Non-Pharmaceutical Primary Care Interventions Reduce Inequalities in Common Mental Health Disorders? A Protocol for a Systematic Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Studies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2021, 18(24), 12978.
• Sowden S, Nezafat Maldonado B, Wildman J, Cookson R, Thomson R, Lambert M, Beyer F, Bambra C. Interventions to reduce inequalities in avoidable hospital admissions: explanatory framework and systematic review protocol. BMJ Open 2020, 10, e035429.
• Haste A, Lambert M, Sharp L, Thomson R, Sowden S. Patient experiences of the urgent cancer referral pathway—Can the NHS do better? Semi-structured interviews with patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer. Health Expectations 2020, 23(6), 1512-1522.
• Sowden S, Haste A, Thomson R, Sharp L. Co-design to deliver service improvement – what does this mean and can we do it? A qualitative study with cancer patients and NHS professionals. In: National Cancer Research Institute Conference. 2018, Glasgow, UK.
• Sowden S, Haste A, Sharp L, Lambert M, Thomson R. Embedding patient voice in cancer service improvement: A qualitative study of patients’ experience of the NHS cancer diagnostic care pathway. In: 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference of National Cancer Research Institute. 2018, Glasgow: Nature Publishing Group.
• Forrest LF, Adams J, Ben-Shlomo Y, Buckner S, Payne N, Rimmer M, Salway S, Sowden S, Walters K, White M. Age-related references in national public health, technology appraisal and clinical guidelines and guidance: documentary analysis. Age and Ageing 2017, 46(3), 500-508.
• Salway SM, Payne N, Rimmer M, Buckner S, Jordan H, Adams J, Walters K, Sowden SL, Forrest L, Sharp L, Hidajat M, White M, Ben-Shlomo Y. Identifying inequitable healthcare in older people: Systematic review of current research practice. International Journal for Equity in Health 2017, 16(1), 123.
• Moffatt S, Lawson S, Patterson R, Holding E, Dennison A, Sowden S, Brown J. A qualitative study of the impact of the UK 'bedroom tax'. Journal of Public Health 2016, 38(2), 197-205.
• Lambert MF, Sowden S. Revisiting the risks associated with health and healthcare reform in England: perspective of Faculty of Public Health members. Journal of Public Health 2016, 38(4), e438-e445.
• Forrest LF, Sowden S, Rubin G, White M, Adams J. Socio-economic inequalities in stage at diagnosis, and in time intervals on the lung cancer pathway from first symptom to treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis. Thorax 2016, 72(5), 430-436.
• Beenstock J, Sowden S, Hunter D, White M. Are health and well-being strategies in England fit for purpose? A thematic content analysis. Journal of Public Health 2015, 37(3), 461-469.
• Wright J, Kamp E, White M, Adams J, Sowden S. Food at checkouts in non-food stores: a cross-sectional study of a large indoor shopping mall. Public Health Nutrition 2015, 18(15), 2786-2793.
• Wright J, Kamp E, White M, Adams J, Sowden S. Food at checkouts of non-food stores: a cross-sectional study of a large indoor shopping mall in Gateshead UK, February - March 2014. In: European Public Health Association. 2014, Glasgow, UK: European Journal of Public Health.
• Sowden S, White M. High-rise health: a qualitative study of the effect of social housing improvements on the health and wellbeing of residents in high-rise flats. In: Public Health Science: A National Conference Dedicated to New Research in UK Public Health. 2014, Glasgow, UK: The Lancet Publishing Group.
• Sowden S, White M. High-rise health: a qualitative study of the effect of social housing improvements on the health and wellbeing of residents in high-rise flats. In: Public Health Science 2014. 2014, Glasgow, Scotland, UK: The Lancet Publishing Group.
• Moffatt S, Brown J, Sowden S, Patterson RA, Holding E, Dennison A, Lawson S. Public Health Implications of UK welfare reform: qualitative research in a North East England community. In: European Public Health Conference. 2014, Glasgow, UK: European Journal of Public Health.
• Forrest LF, Sowden S, Rubin G, White M, Adams J. Socio-economic inequalities in patient, primary care, referral, diagnostic, and treatment intervals on the lung cancer care pathway: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic Reviews 2014, 3(30), 1-5.
• Forrest LF, Sowden S, Rubin G, White M, Adams J. Socio-economic inequalities in stage at diagnosis, and in time from first symptom to treatment, for lung cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis. In: European Public Health Conference. 2014, Glasgow: Oxford University Press.
• Sowden SL. Is Access to and Use of Exercise Referral Scheme Equitable? An examination of socioeconomic differences in referral to and use of Exercise Referral Schemes in London [PhD thesis]. London, UK: University College London, 2009.
• Sheringham J, Sowden S, Stafford M, Simms I, Raine R. Monitoring inequalities in the National Chlamydia Screening Programme in England: the added value of ACORN, a commercial geodemographic classification tool. Sexual Health 2009, 6(1), 57-62.
• Sowden SL, Breeze E, Barber J, Raine R. Do general practices provide equitable access to physical activity interventions?. British Journal of General Practice 2008, 58(555), 698-701.
• Sowden SL, Raine R. Running along parallel lines: how political reality impedes the evaluation of public health interventions. A case study of exercise referral schemes in England. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2008, 62, 835-841.