Claire Wilson MRCPsych PhD is an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist and Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Her fellowship was based in Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons where, supported by mentors Catherine Monk, Ph.D. and Professor Nancy Byatt (UMass Chan Medical school) she explored Racial Inequalities in Maternal Mental Health Outcomes
Racial inequalities in perinatal mental health are now being recognized as key policy priorities in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Perinatal mental illness affects around 1 in 5 birthing people globally and is associated with adverse outcomes for those affected and their families. Such adverse outcomes are not inevitable and there is now good evidence for a range of both preventive and treatment interventions. There are well-documented inequalities in mental health outcomes across a range of social determinants, including race; such inequalities are also apparent during the perinatal period.
Claire employs a lifespan approach to the development of healthy and resilient families. In her clinical practice she supports perinatal people and those planning for pregnancy in the community of South East London. Her clinical work and research focus on the intergenerational transmission of risk for mental health and disease and opportunities for intervention to prevent adverse developmental trajectories.
Claire’s areas of focus include the preconception and perinatal periods and although she is an epidemiologist by training, she uses a range of methodologies to translate her work from the level of the bench or the database, to the bedside, to policy makers and to the public. This includes policy orientated and clinically relevant evidence synthesis and co-design and evaluation of complex interventions.
She is particularly interested in how parental multimorbid physical and mental ill health and substance misuse come together in the preconception and perinatal periods to shape offspring outcomes across generations. Her time in the US was spent using routinely collected epidemiological data to investigate the drivers of racial inequalities in access to perinatal mental health services and associated maternal and child outcomes. She also utilized qualitative approaches to explore current initiatives to reduce inequalities. Her findings have the potential to inform the development of culturally sensitive interventions to promote equity in this area for underserved populations. Publications forthcoming.