Professor Ann John, a number one determine in suicide prevention and psychological well being information science, has been awarded an OBE within the King’s Birthday Honours record in recognition of her excellent contribution to the sphere. Alongside her position as Professor at Swansea College Medical Faculty, Ann is a valued trustee of MQ Psychological Well being Analysis and Chair of MQ’s Science Council, the place she performs a key position in shaping the organisation’s analysis technique and scientific course.
A former GP, Ann has devoted her profession to understanding and stopping suicide and self-harm. She is Director of the Nationwide Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-harm Analysis, which advises the Welsh Authorities, and Principal Investigator and Co-Director of DATAMIND, the Well being Knowledge Analysis UK Hub for Psychological Well being Informatics Analysis. Via these roles, she has led pioneering work that’s reworking how information is used to enhance psychological well being outcomes.
Ann’s work has helped form nationwide coverage and frontline approaches to suicide prevention. Past academia, she has labored carefully with media organisations to enhance how suicide is portrayed, contributing her experience to main tv productions together with EastEnders, Coronation Road, and the BBC’s This Is Going to Harm. These collaborations have helped promote extra accountable storytelling and cut back the danger of hurt related to inaccurate or sensationalised depictions.
“I’m deeply honoured and delighted to obtain this award,” Professor Ann John.
“It displays the significance of suicide prevention and the facility of digital innovation, analysis and collaboration to make an actual distinction to folks’s lives. I share this honour with everybody who has contributed to that work over a few years.”
In 2018 MQ funded the Adolescent Knowledge Platform, for which Professor Ann John was the principal investigator. This platform introduced collectively the routinely collected well being information from the NHS, Colleges and native authorities and mixed them on a platform in order that researchers might determine tendencies. This data-led strategy led to researchers recognizing tendencies in Cyberbullying, self-harm and suicidality which led to new steering being issued to colleges.
On the coronary heart of Ann’s work is a dedication to accountable, moral use of knowledge. Professor John is a pacesetter in advancing safe, privacy-focused approaches to psychological well being information entry, working in partnership with the NHS, policymakers, researchers, and folks with lived expertise. Her work ensures that data-driven innovation delivers tangible advantages for sufferers and communities, whereas sustaining public belief.
