25/11/10
Faculty appoints leading social scientist to improve healthcare of older people
One of the country’s leading social scientists, Ann Bowling, has been appointed Professor of Healthcare for Older Adults with the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences.
Professor Bowling has more than 30 years’ experience in research and teaching and has developed a worldwide reputation for her work on how older people are catered for by health services. She has worked in public and primary healthcare settings including posts at St Bartholomew's, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London, and, most recently, the Royal Free and University College Medical School.
Her recent research includes national surveys of quality of life in older age, equity of clinical decision-making in cardiology and the treatment preferences of cardiology patients. She has explored how patients' expectations of care influence their eventual experiences, and carried out a study on the benefits of exercise for people over the age of 65. Her interests also include evaluating self-management programmes for people with long-term conditions, a field of work that is already prominent in the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences.
Professor Bowling has published several books, over 150 papers in peer reviewed journals and over 70 articles in professional journals. She is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Ageing and Human Development, the Journal of Ageing Research and Health Expectations. She has also served on several national and European grant bodies and is currently a member of the Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) London panel.
Her award-winning book, 'Research Methods in Health', is widely recognised as an essential text on many masters courses ranging from public health and social science to those for other health professionals.
Professor Bowling said of her appointment, “The themes of my work fit in very well with the work being done here in the Faculty, and I look forward to productive collaborations with my new colleagues.”
She particularly welcomes the opportunity to work more closely with the local community. “Earlier in my career I did a lot of local community research and I really enjoyed being hands on and having contact with people. I wanted to have that kind of contact again, and being based here among such a diverse community with a range of themes will be great for that. You feel like you’re doing much more significant work when you’re working alongside the community on topical, important research that has an impact on local people. That’s very rewarding and personally satisfying.”
- Professor Ann Bowling staff profile
