Rate My Professor Kerryn Husk

Professor Kerryn Husk is Professor of Health Services (Research) in the Peninsula Medical School at the University of Plymouth, part of the Faculty of Health. She is affiliated with the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South West Peninsula (PenARC), where she leads a research programme focused on evidencing and developing non-NHS delivered interventions, including social prescribing pathways. Her research specializations include primary care, complex interventions, evidence synthesis, health inequalities, research methodology, and systematic reviews. Husk's work emphasizes the evaluation and implementation of social prescribing to address wellbeing through community-based and nature-related activities.

Husk obtained her PhD in 2012 from the University of Plymouth with a thesis entitled 'Ethnic group affiliation and social exclusion in Cornwall: analysis, adjustment and extension of the 2001 England and Wales Census data'. She holds honorary appointments as Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Medical School and Senior Public Health Research Fellow at Public Health England/Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Key publications include 'What approaches to social prescribing work, for whom, and in what circumstances? A realist review' (Health & Social Care in the Community, 2020), cited over 470 times; 'Social prescribing for children and young people' (The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 2022); 'Prescribing gardening and conservation activities for health and wellbeing in older people' (Maturitas, 2018); 'Delivering Inclusive Cultural Offers for Social Prescribing: A Realist Evaluation Involving Older People From Global Majority Backgrounds' (Health Expectations, 2026); 'Social prescribing within five European countries: a protocol of a cross-country qualitative analysis' (BMJ Open, 2026); and 'High frequency emergency department use and heterogeneity of reasons for attendance by children and young people: a retrospective cohort study' (BMJ Paediatrics Open, 2026). She has served on the NIHR Health Services & Delivery Research programme funding committee (2020-2022) and researcher-led panel (2018-2020), was Past Lead of the Academic Partners Collaborative at the National Academy for Social Prescribing (2020-2021), and holds editorial board positions for Health and Social Care in the Community (2022-2024) and Sociological Research Online (2017-present). Additionally, she is an affiliate member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Her contributions have advanced the evidence base for social prescribing, influencing health services research, policy, and practice.