SSM ECRs featuring… Dr Natalie Bennett!
Natalie Bennett is a Research Assistant in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University.
 | Dr Natalie Bennett Newcastle University Research Assistant SSM member since: 2022 SSM participation: 2020 ASM Topics of interest: social epidemiology, health inequalities, health geography |
What inspired you to pursue a career in public health?
As an undergraduate human geography student, I was fascinated by the idea that maps could give us clues about the causes of health outcomes. I spent a while considering infectious disease epidemiology as a career, but at the time I thought the job prospects wouldn’t be so great (!). A little further into my degree in a module on inequalities, we discussed the work of Wilkinson and Pickett. Through this, I discovered that the discipline of social epidemiology existed and immediately realised that the discipline perfectly encompassed everything that interested me about health and health inequalities. For me, conducting theoretically informed research on the social determinants of health to help us understand and address health inequalities is what it’s all about. The geographer within me is still very much interested in investigating the role of place, context, and geography in health outcomes, but I’m less of a map geek these days.
What excites you about working in research now?
Health inequalities are in the spotlight at the moment with the plans for ‘levelling up’ recently announced and the long-anticipated health disparities white paper set to be published soon. I find the potential for the research we produce to guide and inform policy approaches to health inequalities especially exciting.
What area of social medicine/public health are you interested in?
Within social epidemiology, I am most interested in health inequalities, and particularly in ethnic inequalities. I take a social determinants of health approach to the study of health inequalities, and my research foregrounds the role of place and context in shaping health outcomes.
Can you tell us a bit about a project you’re working on now?
At the moment, I’m working on a Health Foundation funded project looking at the effect the vaccine rollout may have had on geographical inequalities in Covid-19 mortality here in the UK and what factors might explain these changes.
What do you hope this will lead to?
I hope that the research will help to inform future vaccination strategies, so that they are designed with existing geographical inequalities in mind, as well and their potential to alter these inequalities.
Bonus question from SSM ECR Subcommittee: If you could collaborate with any individual (academic or otherwise), who would you choose and why?
I am incredibly lucky to be working with an exceptional team of researchers across several projects at the moment and I wouldn’t change it for anything!
To keep up to date with Natalie, follow her on Twitter @DrNCBennett or get in touch via email.
SSM ECR features is a blog series that celebrates early career researchers. Each month we meet a member we admire, learn more about their work and find out what and who inspires them. To find out more visit socsocmed.org.uk/blog or email ecr.ssm@gmail.com.