Ann John, FLSW, is a professor of public health and psychiatry at

Swansea University Medical School Swansea University Medical School is a Medical school in the United Kingdom, medical school on Swansea University's Singleton campus. It is linked to additional teaching centres located throughout South and West Wales, including Cefn Coed Hospi ...

. She chairs the National Advisory Group to the Welsh Government on the prevention of suicide and self-harm. She also serves as an honorary consultant in public health medicine for Public Health Wales and is a trustee of the Mental Health Foundation.. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

Education

John's parents arrived in London from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

in 1966. She was born and grew up in London. She was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls and then Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School where she qualified as a doctor. During her medical degree she intercalated to study sociology, which began an interest in inequality. She earned a Medical Doctorate at

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

in 2011, where she established a Suicide and Self-Harm research group.

Career

She moved to Swansea as a junior doctor, where she worked in accident and emergency at

Morriston Hospital Morriston Hospital () is a 750-bed hospital located in Cwmrhydyceirw near Morriston in Swansea, Wales. It is managed by Swansea Bay University Health Board. Alongside its role as a district general hospital, Morriston is a teaching hospital f ...

. John has been a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

, a medical advisor to the

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA; ) is the organisation of the Government of the United Kingdom, British government responsible for maintaining a database of drivers in Great Britain and a Vehicle register, database of vehicles f ...

and a Clinical Assistant in Psychiatry. She is now an academic researcher and has contributed considerably to research into children and young people's mental health and suicide and self-harm prevention.

Mental health, including prevention of suicide and self-harm

Her expertise lie in

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

and

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

s. She is a Principal Investigator with the National Centre for Mental Health, where she leads the informatics group. She is a Farr Institute Investigator where uses big data to understand mental health in young people. In 2017, after looking at data on psychotropic prescribing from over 300,000 patients aged between 6 and 18 years old, guidance was issued on managing depression and antidepressant prescribing to children and young people (in particular

citalopram Citalopram, sold under the brand name Celexa among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used to treat major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and soci ...

) and access to talking therapies. John's Adolescent Data Platform, funded by MQ, is the biggest of its kind for young people's mental health. It brings together scientists from several universities, aiming to make it easier for young people to access quality mental health services. She received an

Arts Council of Wales The Arts Council of Wales (ACW; ) is a Welsh Government-sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales. Established within the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council (), its English name w ...

grant to partner with an artist and help young people express what they are thinking. She worked with Self-Harm Research UK (SHARE) to better understand and support people who self-harm. She developed the Wales strategy for suicide and self-harm. She is particularly concerned about cyberbullying and the impacts it has on young people. In 2018 she found victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to enact suicidal behaviour. In 2022 John was part of a group examining the use of machine learning in suicide prevention.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:John, Ann British general practitioners Academics of Swansea University Mental health activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales