Professor Jane Barlow, Professor of Public Health in the Early Years, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick

Professor Barlow’s main research interest is the role of early parenting in the aetiology of mental health problems, and in particular the evaluation of early interventions aimed at improving parenting practices, particularly during pregnancy and the postnatal period. Her programme of research focuses on interventions that are provided around infancy, and she has recently provided the evidence-base for the revised Child Health Promotion Programme (0 – 3 years). She is co-director of Warwick Infant and Family Wellbeing Unit, which provides training and research in innovative evidence-based methods of supporting parenting during pregnancy and the early years, to a wide range of early years and primary care practitioners. She has also undertaken extensive research on the effectiveness of interventions in the field of child protection, and has produced numerous Cochrane reviews on this topic and was an author on one of the recent Lancet international reviews of what works. She has recently co-authored a book about ‘what works’ in the treatment of child emotional abuse.