Rate My Professor Ann John

Professor Ann John holds a personal chair in Public Health and Psychiatry at Swansea University Medical School. She qualified in medicine from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, where she intercalated in sociology, and earned her MD from Swansea University in 2011. A clinical epidemiologist with a background in public health medicine and general practice as a GP in South Wales, she serves as Deputy Head of Swansea University Medical School and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine for Public Health Wales. She is Principal Investigator and Co-Director of DATAMIND, the MRC-funded Health Data Research UK Mental Health Data Hub, and Director of the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research, an independent advisory body to the Welsh Government. Additionally, she leads the MQ-funded Adolescent Mental Health Data Platform and the Suicide Information Database-Cymru.

Professor John's research focuses on suicide and self-harm prevention, common mental disorders, youth mental health, epidemiology, and population data science. Her influential publications include 'Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science' (The Lancet Psychiatry, 2020), 'Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population' (The Lancet Psychiatry, 2020), 'Suicide risk and prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic' (The Lancet Psychiatry, 2020), and 'Self-harm, suicidal behaviours, and cyberbullying in children and young people: Systematic review' (Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2018). She chairs the National Advisory Group on suicide and self-harm prevention to the Welsh Government, co-directs the Cochrane Suicide and Self-Harm Satellite, and serves as a trustee for the Samaritans and Mental Health Foundation. Her contributions extend to policy development, NHS-commissioned reports, media advisories on suicide portrayal, and participation in SAGE and TAG during the pandemic. Awards include the Frances Hoggan Medal (2022), Fellowship of the Learned Society of Wales (2018), Fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health (2011), and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (2015).