Professor Justine Davies

Institute of Applied Health Research
Professor of Global Health

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 3762
Email: j.davies.6@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @drjackoids

Address: Murray Learning Centre
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Justine’s driver is to do research that informs development of health systems that deliver quality care in lower and middle income countries, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, projects that she works on all have a health system question in mind.

The overall aim of her research is to provide the evidence to inform where health systems need to develop in order to serve the needs of their populations. This involves looking at the health of the population and the health system that serves them from many different angles; from epidemiological, qualitative, systems-readiness, and economic perspectives. Justine also does implementation science research in order to study real-world solutions to identified gaps. The specialty areas that Justine is interested in are in conditions that require surgery to treat and cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors. Both of these specialty areas require a joined-up health system that provides good quality care.

Biography

Justine has previously been a practising physician in the field of cardiovascular diseases and trained as a clinical pharmacologist in the area of cardiovascular disease risk factors. As a clinical pharmacologist she ran early stage clinical trials of medications to reduce cardiovascular risk.

Recognising the necessity to put human health in the context of the planet on which we live, Justine took time out to study for a Zoology degree, after which she honed her interest in Global Health and research excellence whilst working at the Lancet Journals. She worked as an executive editor at The Lancet and latterly as Editor in Chief of The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. She returned to full time academia in the field of Global Health in December 2016 and has worked at Wits University in South Africa and KCL since then.

Experience at The Lancet Journals has developed a keen sense of what is an impactful research question and how to answer this with methodological rigour.

Justine also has a love of writing and communicating science to non-scientists. She has thus done work as a freelance journalist and worked at the BBC.

Postgraduate supervision

Currently supervising 3 PhD projects at KCL:

Global surgery
Paediatric surgery
Access to care for trauma

Research

EquiTrauma

The aim of this project is to identify barriers in access to quality care for people who have been injured in lower and middle income countries, in particular Ghana, South Africa, and Rwanda.

Funded by the NIHR Global Health Policy and Systems Research (130036) and the Institute for Global Health Innovation at the University of Birmingham.

Ongoing projects in Sierra Leone and Ethiopia:

Implementation science to Improve Quality Surgery Care in a tertiary referral hospital (NIHR funded)

Sierra Leone:

Burden of, barriers to access to care for, and consequences of Cardiovascular Diseases Risk Factor in Sierra Leone (Wellcome Trust funded)

Malawi:

Burden of peripheral vascular disease amongst high risk people living in Malawi (MRC/KCL funded)

Burkina Faso:

Burden of and consequences of multimorbidity in a population in Nouna (Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation funded)

South Africa, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya

Burden and consequences of cardiovascular disease risk factors across four African Countries (part of the AWIGEN collaboration)

Other activities

Independent expert advisor to WHO on Global Surgery
Consultant on NCDs with MSF

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Seiglie , JA, Marcus , M-E, Ebert, C, Prodromidis , N, Geldsetzer, P, Theilmann, M, Agoudavi, K, Andall-Brereton, G, Aryal, KK, Bicaba, BW, Bovet, P, Brian, G, Dorobantu, M, Gathecha, G, Singh Gurung, M, Guwatudde, D, Msaidie, M, Houehanou, C, Houinato, D, Jorgensen, JMA, Kagaruki, GB, Karki, KB, Labadarios, D, Martins, JS, Mayige, MT, McClure, RW, Mwangi, JK, Mwalim, O, Norov, B, Quesnel-Crooks, S, Silver, BK, Sturua, L, Tsabedze, L, Wesseh, CS, Stokes, A, Atun, R, Davies, J, Vollmer, S, Bärnighausen, TW, Jaacks, LM, Meigs , JB, Wexler , DJ & Manne-Goehler, J 2020, 'Diabetes prevalence and its relationship with education, wealth, and body mass index in twenty-nine low- and middle-income countries', Diabetes Care.

Majid, Z, Welch, C, Davies, J & Jackson, T 2020, 'Global frailty: The role of ethnicity, migration and socioeconomic factors', Maturitas.

Odland, ML, Whitaker , J, Nepogodiev, D, Aling, CA, Bagawhira, I, Dushime, T, Erlangga, D, Mpirimbanyi, C, Muneza, S, Nkeshimana, M, Nyundo, M, Umuhoza, C, Uwitonce, E, Steans, J, Rushton, A, Belli, A, Byiringiro, JC, Bekele, A & Davies, J 2020, 'Identifying, prioritizing and visually mapping barriers to injury care in Rwanda: a multi-disciplinary stakeholder exercise', World journal of surgery.

Odland, ML, Payne, C, Witham, MD, Siedner, MJ, Bärnighausen, T, Buontogo, M, Coulibaly, B, Geldsetzer, P, Harling, G, Manne-Goehler, J, Ouermi, L, Sie, A & Davies, J 2020, 'The epidemiology of multimorbidity in conditions of extreme poverty: a population-based study of older adults in rural Burkina Faso', BMJ Global Health, vol. 5, no. 3, e002096. https://doi.org/10.1136/ bmjgh-2019-002096

Fraser, A, Newberry Le Vay, J, Byass, P, Tollman, SM, Kahn, K, D’Ambruoso , L & Davies, J 2020, 'Time-critical conditions: assessment of burden and access to care using verbal autopsy in Agincourt, South Africa', BMJ Global Health, vol. 5, no. 4, e002289. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002289

Blackstock, S, Witham, MD, Wade, AN, Crampin, A, Beran, D, Ogle, GD & Davies, JI 2019, 'Ability of verbal autopsy data to detect deaths due to uncontrolled hyperglycaemia: testing existing methods and development and validation of a novel weighted score', BMJ open, vol. 9, no. 10, e026331, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026331

Onen , BL, Harris, C, Ignatowicz, A, Davies, J, Drouvelis, M, Howes, A, Nkomazana, O, Lukwiya Onen, C, Sapey, E, Tsima, B & Lasserson, D 2019, 'Ageing, frailty and resilience in Botswana: rapid ageing, rapid change. Findings from a national working group meeting and literature review', BMC Proceedings, vol. 13, no. Suppl 10, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12919-019-0171-z

Whitaker, J, Nepogodiev, D, Leather, A & Davies, J 2019, 'Assessing barriers to quality trauma care in low and middle-income countries: A Delphi study', Injury. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2019.12.035

Whitaker , J, Denning, M, O’Donohoe, N, Poenaru, D, Guadagno, E, Leather , A & Davies, J 2019, 'Assessing trauma care health systems in low- and middle-income countries, a protocol for a systematic literature review and narrative synthesis', Systematic Reviews, vol. 8, 157. https://doi.org/0.1186/s13643-019-1075-8

Oni, T, Mogo, E, Ahmed, A & Davies, JI 2019, 'Breaking down the silos of Universal Health Coverage: towards systems for the primary prevention of non-communicable diseases in Africa', BMJ Global Health, vol. 4, no. 4, e001717. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001717

McKenzie, BL, Santos, JA, Geldsetzer, P, Davies, J, Manne-Goehler, J, Singh Gurung, M, Sturua, L, Gathecha, G, Aryal, KK, Tsabedze, L, Andall-Brereton, G, Bärnighausen, T, Atun, R, Vollmer, S, Woodward, M, Jaacks, LM & Webster, J 2019, 'Evaluation of sex differences in dietary behaviours and their relationship with cardiovascular risk factors: A cross-sectional study of nationally representative surveys in seven low- and middle-income countries', Nutrition Journal.

Edem , I, Dare, A, Byass, P, D’Ambruoso , L, Kahn, K, Leather , A, Tollman, SM, Whitaker , J & Davies, J 2019, 'External injuries, trauma and avoidable deaths in Agincourt, South Africa: a retrospective observational and qualitative study', BMJ open, vol. 9, no. 6, e027576. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027576

Witham, MD, Davies, J, Bärnighausen, T, Bountogo, M, Manne-Goehler, J, Payne, CF, Ouermi, L, Sie, A, Siedner, MJ & Harling, G 2019, 'Frailty and physical performance in the context of extreme poverty: a population-based study of older adults in rural Burkina Faso', Wellcome Open Research, vol. 4, 135. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15455.1

Manne-Goehler, J, Geldsetzer, P, Agoudavi, K, Andall-Brereton, G, Aryal, KK, Bicaba, BW, Bovet, P, Brian, G, Dorobantu, M, Gathecha, G, Singh Gurung, M, Guwatudde, D, Msaidie, M, Houehanou, C, Houinato, D, Jorgensen, JMA, Kagaruki, GB, Karki, KB, Labadarios, D, Martins, JS, Mayige, MT, McClure, RW, Mwalim, O, Mwangi, JK, Norov, B, Quesnel-Crooks, S, Silver, BK, Sturua, L, Tsabedze, L, Wesseh, CS, Stokes, A, Marcus, M, Ebert, C, Davies, JI, Vollmer, S, Atun, R, Bärnighausen, TW & Jaacks, LM 2019, 'Health system performance for people with diabetes in 28 low- and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study of nationally representative surveys', PLoS Medicine, vol. 16, no. 3, e1002751. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002751

Manne-Goehler, J, Siedner, MJ, Montana, L, Harling, G, Geldsetzer, P, Rohr, J, Gómez-Olivé, FX, Goehler, A, Wade, A, Gaziano, T, Kahn, K, Davies, JI, Tollman, S & Bärnighausen, TW 2019, 'Hypertension and diabetes control along the HIV care cascade in rural South Africa', Journal of the International AIDS Society, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. e25213. https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25213

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