Staff Profile
I am a UK-based academic paediatrician.
Prior to re-joining Newcastle University in 2020 I was Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine where I remain an honorary assistant professor.
I work within networks including the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration - North East & North Cumbria, the Reproduction, Development and Child Health theme within the Faculty of Medical Sciences, and the KERNEL collaboration aiming to "promote healthier and happier lives for all, from early on...". I'm trustee/board member at Foundation Years Information & Research, The Children's Foundation, the Child Health & Wellbeing Network, and at a local secondary school.
I completed my PhD which was supervised by Prof Betty Kirkwood in 2019. My viva examiners were Dr Andrew Prendergast and Dr Melissa Gladstone (University of Liverpool). I was awarded the LSHTM Cicily Williams prize (for research advancing the health of vulnerable populations), and the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health Lorber prize (for best scientific paper in paediatrics by a pre-consultant grade medical practitioner) for my work done during this time.
My initial academic training was through the Academic Foundation Programme, then Academic Clinical Fellowship progammes in Newcastle. I would be delighted to supervise those who wish to follow this route.
My undergraduate degrees were in International Health (2008) and Medicine (2010) from the University of Leeds. I am a Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics by examination (2014) and my masters degree in clinical research was from Newcastle University (2015).
I am former chair of the International Child Health Group, a specialty group of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health, and was previously a trustee of the student global health charity Medsin (now Students for Global Health).
My research aims to improve health and wellbeing for young children in low- and middle-income countries, and in the UK and focuses on the first thousand days through pregnancy and the early years of life which are critical to optimal lifelong health. I am particularly interested in the role of childhood adversity during this time, and science-based approaches to improving life chances for children living with adversity.
My publications are listed here: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1229-781X
I am currently working on the following as a collaborator/co-applicant:
1. Follow-up of the SPRING cluster randomised controlled trial in rural India (funded by Wellcome Trust) and my SPRING-ELS sub-study
2. A Sure start in slums? Nairobi Early Childcare in Slums (NECS) study (funded by British Academy Early Childhood Education Programme)
3. Automated measurement of responsive caregiving at scale using machine learning (funded by Global Challenges Research Fund Frontiers of Development Seed Funding)
4. Artificial Intelligence, Passive Sensing and Early Childhood Development (Funding from Royal Academy of Engineering via the Frontiers Champions programme)
I am also working on a number of projects relating to advocacy for children and young people, child rights, racism & health, and the UK Covid-19 response.
I would be delighted to hear from students looking for projects within any of these areas.
I have taught on global health, child health, and early childhood development at LSHTM, UCL and Oxford University. I am currently (December 2021) supervising two PhD students in Early Childhood Development in India & Kenya, and one Masters student working on data from SPRING-ELS. I have a track record of supporting masters students to successful completion.
I welcome approaches from students who wish to work collaborate on dissertation projects and the like.
- Molteni E, Bhopal SS, Hughes RC, Absoud M, Duncan EL. Long COVID in children – Authors' reply. The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health 2022, 6(1), e3-e3.
- Bhopal SS, Bagaria J, Olabi B, Bhopal R. Children and young people remain at low risk of COVID-19 mortality. The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health 2021, 5(5), e12-e13.
- Bogiatzopoulou A, Mayberry H, Hawcutt DB, Whittaker E, Munro A, Roland D, Simba J, Gale C, Felsenstein S, Abrams E, Jones CB, Lewins I, Rodriguez-Martinez CE, Fernandes RM, Stilwell PA, Swann O, Bhopal S, Sinha I, Harwood R. Erratum to “COVID-19 in children: what did we learn from the first waveˮ [Paediatr Child Health 30 (2020) 438–443/1496] (Paediatrics and Child Health (2020) 30(12) (438–443), (S1751722220301591), (10.1016/j.paed.2020.09.005)). Paediatrics and Child Health 2021, 31(3), 128-128.
- Molteni E, Sudre CH, Canas LS, Bhopal SS, Hughes RC, Antonelli M, Murray B, Klaser K, Kerfoot E, Chen L, Deng J, Hu C, Selvachandran S, Reed K, Pujol JC, Hammers A, Spector TD, Ourselin S, Steves CJ, Modat M, Absound M, Duncan EL. Illness duration and symptom profile in symptomatic UK school-aged children tested for SARS-CoV-2. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 2021, (ePub ahead of Print).
- Bhavnani S, Mukherjee D, Bhopal S, Sharma KK, Dasgupta J, Divan G, Soremekun S, Roy R, Kirkwood B, Patel V. The association of a novel digital tool for assessment of early childhood cognitive development, ‘DEvelopmental assessment on an E-Platform (DEEP)’, with growth in rural India: A proof of concept study. EClinicalMedicine 2021, 37, 100964.
- Bhopal S, Nielsen M. Vaccine hesitancy in low- And middle-income countries: Potential implications for the COVID-19 response. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2021, 106(2), 113-114.
- Bhopal SS, Olabi B, Bhopal R. Vaccines for COVID-19: learning from ten phase II trials to inform clinical and public health vaccination programmes. Public Health 2021, 193, 57-60.
- Hughes RC, Kitsao-Wekulo P, Muendo R, Bhopal SS, Kimani-Murage E, Hill Z, Kirkwood BR. Who actually cares for children in slums? Why we need to think, and do, more about paid childcare in urbanizing sub-Saharan Africa. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 2021, 376(1827), 20200430.
- Bhopal S, Bagaria J, Bhopal R. Children's mortality from COVID-19 compared with all-deaths and other relevant causes of death: epidemiological information for decision-making by parents, teachers, clinicians and policymakers. Public Health 2020, 185, 19-20.
- Bhopal SS, Bagaria J, Olabi B, Bhopal R. COVID-19 deaths in children: comparison with all- and other causes and trends in incidence of mortality. Public Health 2020, 188, 32-34.
- Bogiatzopoulou A, Mayberry H, Hawcutt DB, Whittaker E, Munro A, Roland D, Simba J, Gale C, Felsenstein S, Abrams E, Jones CB, Lewins I, Rodriguez-Martinez CR, Fernandes RM, Stilwell PA, Swann O, Bhopal S, Sinha I, Harwood R. COVID-19 in children: what did we learn from the first wave?. Paediatrics and Child Health 2020, 30(12), 438-443.
- Abrams EM, McGill G, Bhopal SS, Sinha I, Fernandes RM. COVID-19, asthma, and return to school. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine 2020, 8(9), 847-849.
- Devakumar D, Bhopal SS, Shannon G. COVID-19: the great unequaliser. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 2020, 113(6), 234-235.
- Bhopal SS, Cannon E. Education disruption in response to a positive covid-19 PCR test must be proportionate and consistent. BMJ 2020, 371, m3803.
- Devakumar D, Shannon G, Bhopal SS, Abubakar I. Racism and discrimination in COVID-19 responses. The Lancet 2020, 395(10231), 1194-1194.
- Bhopal SS, Bagaria J, Bhopal R. Risks to children during the covid-19 pandemic: Some essential epidemiology. The BMJ 2020, 369.
- Bhopal SS, Bhopal R. Sex differential in COVID-19 mortality varies markedly by age. The Lancet 2020, 396(10250), 532-533.
- Bhopal S, Halpin H, Gerein N. Emergency Obstetric Referral in Rural Sierra Leone: What Can Motorbike Ambulances Contribute? A Mixed-Methods Study. Maternal and Child Health Journal 2013, 17(6), 1038-1043.
- Theodoratou E, Zhang JSF, Kolcic I, Davis AM, Bhopal S, Nair H, Chan KY, Liu L, Johnson H, Rudan I, Campbell H. Estimating Pneumonia Deaths of Post-Neonatal Children in Countries of Low or No Death Certification in 2008. PLoS One 2011, 6(9), e25095.
- Bhopal S, Mann K, Pearce M. Rates of childhood cancer in females remain lower than expected in developing countries. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2011, 65(s1), A325.
- Theodoratou E, Johnson S, Jhass A, Madhi SA, Clark A, Boschi-Pinto C, Bhopal S, Rudan I, Campbell H. The effect of Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines on childhood pneumonia incidence, severe morbidity and mortality. International Journal of Epidemiology 2010, 39(s1), i172-i185.