Dr Miranda Pallan MBChB, MPH, PhD, FFPH

Dr Miranda Pallan

Institute of Applied Health Research
Reader in Public Health & Epidemiology

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 7990
Email
m.j.pallan@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Murray Learning Centre
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Miranda’s research mainly focuses on the health of children and adolescents. She has undertaken research into the epidemiology, prevention and management of overweight and obesity in children, and is also expanding her research to include general health and wellbeing in childhood and adolescence. Her research seeks to improve health in childhood, and in the longer term to reduce adult ill health, chronic disease and premature death.

Within her research field Miranda has developed expertise in complex intervention development and evaluation, multi-methods research, and research with minority ethnic communities in the UK.

Qualifications

  • Fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health 2012
  • PhD in Public Health, University of Birmingham, 2011
  • Masters in Public Health, University of Birmingham, 2003
  • Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners 2001
  • MBChB, University of Birmingham, 1997
  • BSc (Hons) Pharmacology, University of Birmingham, 1994

Biography

Miranda graduated with a MBChB degree from Birmingham Medical School in 1997. She went on to qualify as a General Practitioner in 2001. In 2002 she commenced specialist training in Public Health, and joined the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics in 2005 to sub-specialise in academic Public Health. 

Miranda completed her specialist training in Public Health in 2010 and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. She completed a PhD degree in 2011, which focused on childhood obesity prevention targeting South Asian communities in the UK. Since then, she has continued to focus her research on childhood obesity and its prevention in school-aged children, and she has been involved in multiple nationally funded studies related to this research field. She has worked closely with schools and community healthcare teams to develop and evaluate interventions targeting healthy eating and physical activity in children.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Miranda is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Childhood obesity: epidemiology and prevention
  • Wellbeing and health in childhood and adolescence
Miranda has successfully supervised four PhD students and one MSc by Research student to completion. All four PhD students have moved into academic careers.

Research

Childhood obesity:

  • Epidemiology
  • Prevention
  • Complex intervention development
  • Minority ethnic communities
  • Obesity related behaviours 

Childhood wellbeing:

  • Development and evaluation of school-based wellbeing interventions

Adult obesity:

  • Weight gain prevention 

Medical Education

  • Development of professionalism in undergraduate medical students

Other activities

  • Honorary consultant contract held with Public Health England (since 2013)
  • Associate Editor, BMC Public Health (since 2016)
  • Birmingham Food Council member (since 2019)

Publications

Aguiar M, Andronis L, Pallan M, Högler W, Frew E. The economic case for prevention of population vitamin D deficiency: a modelling study using data from England and Wales. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In press.

Pallan M, Griffin T, Hurley KL, Lancashire E, Blissett J, Frew E, Griffith L, Hemming K, Jolly K, McGee E, Thompson JL, Jackson L, Gill P, Parry J, Adab P. Cultural adaptation of an existing children's weight management programme: the CHANGE intervention and feasibility RCT. Health Technology Assessment 2019;23:1-66. 

Canaway A, Frew E, Lancashire E, Pallan M, Hemming K, Adab P, WAVES trial investigators. Economic evaluation of a childhood obesity prevention programme for children: Results from the WAVES cluster randomised controlled trial conducted in schools. PloS one. 2019;14:e0219500.

Pallan MJ, Griffin TL, Hurley KL, Lancashire ER, Blissett J, Frew E, Gill P, Griffith L, Jolly K, McGee E, Parry JM, Thompson JL, Adab P. Cultural adaptation of a children's weight management programme: Child weigHt mANaGement for Ethnically diverse communities (CHANGE) study. BMC Public Health 2019;19:848.

Aguiar M, Andronis L, Pallan M, Högler W, Frew E. Micronutrient deficiencies and health-related quality of life: the case of children with vitamin D deficiency. Public Health Nutrition. 2019 Feb 12:1-8.

Mason F, Farley A, Pallan M, Sitch A, Easter C, Daley AJ. Effectiveness of a brief behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas holiday period: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2018;363:k4867.

Pallan MJ, Hurley KL, Griffin T, Lancashire ER, Blissett J, Frew E, Gill P, Hemming K, Jackson L, Jolly CB, McGee E, Parry J, Thompson JL, Adab P. A cluster-randomised feasibility trial of a children’s weight management programme: the Child weigHt mANaGement for Ethnically diverse communities (CHANGE) study. Pilot and Feasibility Studies 2018;4:175.

Hurley K, Pallan MJ, Lancashire ER, Adab P. An exploration of the longitudinal relationship between parental feeding practices and child anthropometric adiposity measures from the WAVES study. Am J Clin Nutr 2018;108:1316-1323.

Adab P, Pallan M, Whincup PH. Is BMI the best measure of obesity? BMJ 2018:k1274.

Adab P, Barrett T, Bhopal R, Cade JE, Canaway A, Cheng KK, Clarke J, Daley A, Deeks J, Duda J, Ekelund U, Frew E, Gill P, Griffin T, Hemming K, Hurley K, Lancashire ER, Martin J, McGee E, Pallan MJ, Parry J, Passmore S. The West Midlands ActiVe lifestyle and healthy Eating in School children (WAVES) study: a cluster randomised controlled trial testing the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a multifaceted obesity prevention intervention programme targeted at children aged 6-7 years. Health Technology Assessment 2018;22:1.

Adab P, Pallan M, Lancashire ER, Hemming K, Frew E, Barrett T, Bhopal R, Cade JE, Clarke JL, Daley A, Deek JJ, Duda JL, Ekelund U, Gill P, Griffin T, McGee E, Hurley K, Martin J, Parry J, Passmore S, Cheng KK. Effectiveness of a childhood obesity prevention programme delivered through schools, targeting 6 and 7 year olds: cluster randomised controlled trial (WAVES study). BMJ 2018;360:k211.

Eminson K, Canaway A, Adab P, Lancashire E, Pallan M, Frew E. How does age affect the relationship between weight and health utility during the middle years of childhood? Quality of Life Research 2018:1-8.

Li B, Liu WJ, Adab P, Pallan M, Hemming K, Frew E, Lin R, Martin J, Liu W, Cheng K. A cluster-randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an obesity prevention programme for Chinese primary school-aged children: the CHIRPY DRAGON study protocol. BMJ Open 2017;7:e018415.

Zvauya R, Purandare S, Young N, Pallan M. The Use of Mind Maps as an Assessment Tool in a Problem Based Learning Course. Creative Education 2017;8:1782.

Griffin TL, Clarke JL, Lancashire ER, Pallan MJ, Adab P. Process evaluation results of a cluster randomised controlled childhood obesity prevention trial: the WAVES study. BMC Public Health 2017;17:681.

Liu W, LXiong L, Guo C, Li B, Pallan M, Griffin T, Cheng KK, Adab P. Weight status, Cardiorespiratory fitness and high blood pressure relationship among 5-12 years old Chinese primary school children. Journal of Human Hypertension 2017; 31:808.

Li B, Lin R, Liu W, Chen J, Liu W, Cheng KK, Pallan M, Adab, P, Jones L. Differences in perceived causes of childhood obesity between migrant and local communities in China: A qualitative study. PloS One 2017;12:p.e0177505.

Daley A, Pallan M, Clifford S, Jolly K, Bryant M, Adab P, Cheng KK, Roalfe A. Are babies conceived during Ramadan born smaller and sooner than babies conceived at other times of the year? A Born in Bradford Cohort Study. J Epidemiol Community Health 2017;71:722-728.

Aguiar M, Andronis L, Pallan M, Hogler W, Frew E. Preventing vitamin D deficiency (VDD): a systematic review of economic evaluations. Eur J Public Health 2017;27:292-301.

Wang J, Adab P, Liu W, Chen Y, Li B, Lin R, Liu W, Cheng KK, Pallan M. Prevalence of adiposity and its association with sleep duration, quality and timing among 9-to-12 years old children in China, Guangzhou. Journal of Epidemiology 2017;27:531-7.

Liu W, Rong L, Liu W, Guo Z, Xiong L, LiB, Cheng KK, Adab P, Pallan M. Relationship between weight status and health-related quality of life in Chinese primary school children in Guangzhou: a cross-sectional study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2016;14:166. 

Pallan M, Griffin T, Lancashire E, Hurley K, Blissett J, Frew E, Gill P, Griffith L, Hemming K, Jolly K, McGee E, Mulhern C, Parry J, Thompson JL, Adab P. Cultural adaptation of a children’s weight management programme for Bangladeshi and Pakistani families in the UK: a cluster-randomised feasibility study protocol. BMC Pilot & Feasibility Studies. 2016;2:48.

Liu  W, Liu W, Lin  R, Li  B, Pallan M*, Cheng  K, Adab  P. Socioeconomic determinants of childhood obesity among primary school children in Guangzhou, China. BMC Public Health. 2016;6:482.

Cezard G, Bansal N, Bhopal R, Pallan M, Gill P, Barrett T, Adab P. Adiposity and response to an obesity prevention intervention in Pakistani and Bangladeshi primary school boys and girls: a secondary analysis using the BEACHeS feasibility study. BMJ Open 2016; 6:e007907

Frew E, Pallan M, Lancashire E, Hemming K, Adab P. Is utility-based quality of life associated with overweight in children? Evidence from the UK WAVES randomised controlled study. BMC Pediatrics 2015;15:211.

Clarke J, Pallan M, Lancashire E, Adab P. Obesity prevention in English primary schools: headteacher perspectives. Health Promotion International 2015;32:490-9.

Clarke J, Griffin T, Lancashire E,  Adab P, Parry J,  Pallan M. Parent and child perceptions of school-based obesity prevention in England: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health 2015;15:1224.

Adab P, Pallan MJ, Lancashire ER, Hemming K, Frew E, Griffin T, Barrett T, Bhopal R, Cade JE, Daley A, Deeks J, Duda J, Ekelund U, Gill P, McGee E, Parry J, Passmore S, Cheng KK. A cluster-randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a childhood obesity prevention programme delivered through schools, targeting 6–7 year old children: the WAVES study protocol. BMC Public Health 2015;15:488.   

Griffin T, Clarke J, Lancashire E, Pallan M, Passmore S, Adab P. Teacher experiences of delivering an obesity prevention programme (The WAVES study intervention) in a primary school setting. Health Education Journal 2015;74:655-667.

Griffin TL, Pallan MJ, Clarke JL, Lancashire ER, Lyon A, Parry JM, Adab P. Process evaluation design in a cluster randomised controlled childhood obesity prevention trial: The WAVES study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2014;11:112.  

Adab P, Pallan MJ, Cade J, Ekelund U, Barrett T, Daley A, Deeks J, Duda, J, Gill P, Parry J, Bhopal R, Cheng KK.  Preventing childhood obesity, phase II feasibility study focusing on South Asians: BEACHeS. BMJ Open 2014;4:e004579. DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004579

Pallan MJ, Adab P, Sitch A, Aveyard P. Are school physical activity characteristics associated with weight status in primary school children? A multilevel cross-sectional analysis of routine surveillance data. Arch Dis Child 2014; 99: 135-41. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2013-303987.

Mohammadpour-Ahranjani B, Pallan MJ, Rashidi A, Adab P. Contributors to childhood obesity in Iran: The views of parents and school staff. Public Health 2014; 128: 83-90. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2013.10.005.

Pallan M, Parry J, Cheng KK, Adab P. Development of a childhood obesity prevention programme with a focus on UK South Asian communities. Prev Med 2013;57:948-54.

Clarke J, Fletcher B, Lancashire E, Pallan M, Adab P. The views of stakeholders on the role of the primary school in preventing childhood obesity: a qualitative systematic review. Obes Rev 2013; doi: 10.1111/obr.12058. 

Knowles G, Pallan M, Thomas GN, Ekelund U, Cheng KK, Barrett T, Adab P. Physical activity and blood pressure in children: a longitudinal study. Hypertension 2013; 62: 70-75.

Frew EJ, Bhatti M, Win K, Sitch A, Lyon A, Pallan MJ, Adab P. Cost-effectiveness of a community based physical activity programme for adults (Be Active) in the UK: an economic analysis within a natural experiment. Br J Sports Med 2012; doi:10.1136/bjsports-2012-091202.

Pallan M, Parry JM, Adab P.  Contextual influences on the development of obesity in children: a case study of UK South Asian communities. Prev Med 2012; 54: 205–211.

Pallan MJ, Hiam LC, Duda JL, Adab P. Body image, body dissatisfaction and weight status in South Asian children: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 2011; 11: 21.

Joseph AT, Pallan MJ, Buckley E, et al. Syphilis outbreak in Walsall: lessons for control and prevention. Int J STD & AIDS 2007; 18: 55-57.   

Pallan MJ, Linnane JG, Ramaiah S. Evaluation of an independent, radiographer-led community diagnostic ultrasound service provided to general practitioners. J Public Health 2005; 27: 176-181.      

Shah M, Oyebode F. The use of Mental Health Review Tribunals. Psychiatric Bulletin 1996; 20: 653-655.  

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