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Dr Caroline Kamau-Mitchell

  • Overview

    Overview

    Highlights

    • I specialise in research about the occupational health of doctors, and the occupational implications of illnesses and mental disorders for patients returning to or finding work. I have contributed to the way that hospitals support the occupational health of doctors. One of the randomised-controlled trials I co-authored involved doctors and led us to create an intervention which is used by many NHS hospitals e.g., the Royal Berkshire hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham, BARTS Health NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, and the NHS Practitioner Health Programme, a confidential service for doctors in distress. I am passionate about translating research into policy and practice by engaging with stakeholders in medicine and the United Kingdom's government. I have written reports for the United Kingdom's House of Lords and House of Parliaments. One of my reports in inspired Parliament to change legislation, and I influenced inquiries into occupational health issues such as the impact of long covid on the UK workforce.

    • I have published many journal articles, two books, and I am currently working on a book commissioned by Taylor & Francis. My research has been covered in national newspapers such as The Guardian, media such as the BBC, news within medicine, and lots of tweets by doctors, ranking in the top 5% of outputs within Altmetrics rating of impact. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a member of Birkbeck's Centre for Medical Humanities. I lead Birkbeck's Brainstorming Grants Group, a learning programme for academics featuring speakers who are global pioneers such as Nobel Prize winners and Fellows of the Royal Society. I have written in Nature, ranked among the top journals in the world, and other high impact journals such as the British Medical Journal, and The Lancet Psychiatry. I chaired a landmark conference in medicine and advised stakeholders such as the Medical Schools Council, British Medical Association, Hospital Consultants and Specialists' Association, and the Doctors' Association.

    • I'm the Leader of Birkbeck's Brainstorming Grants Group, a College-wide learning programme for academics which features global intellectual pioneers such as Nobel Prize winners and fellows of the Royal Society.

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Programme Director of the Professional Doctorate in Occupational Health, Psychology and Management
    • Leader of Birkbeck's Brainstorming Grants Group
    • Member of Birkbeck's Academic Board
    • Module Convenor - Occupational Mental Health
    • Module Convenor - Group Processes in Organizations

    Professional memberships

    • Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine

    • Member of the British Psychological Society.

    • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

    • Member of the Birkbeck Centre for Medical Humanities

    ORCID

    0000-0001-6968-0161
  • Research

    Research

    Post doctoral staff

    • Dr. Khalid Bin Waleed (cardiologist)
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    My past PhD students include Dr. Asta Medisauskaite, a senior research fellow at UCL's medical school, Dr. Eduardo Dias, and Dr. Camelia Oancea, a machine learning engineer at Airbus Defence and Space. As principal supervisor, my doctoral students are:

    • Bethan Norfor
    • Carolann Edwards OBE
    • Chris Attoe
    • Humaira Anwer
    • Lorraine Anderson-Cole
    • Peter Wyllie

    I second supervise the following doctoral students:

    • Anna Niemczewska
    • Ioana Parry
    • Johanna Van Osch
    • Krystle Thomas Vedat

    My doctoral students research topics such as the occupational health of medical doctors and nurses, supporting doctors returning to work after sickness absence, distress among lawyers, management of ambulance care, and workplace factors relevant to patient care. I supervise many MSc dissertations each year on various topics.

  • Publications