Social Studies in Medicine (SSiM) staff

Professor Jonathan Reinarz is the Director of The History of Medicine Unit. He is Professor of the History of Medicine.

Jonathan has published extensively on the history of hospitals and medical education, including a history of the Birmingham teaching hospitals (2009), the history of the senses, especially smell, and the history of accidents, including burns and scalds. Most recently has led an ...

Sheila Greenfield is Professor of Medical Sociology in the Institute of Applied Health Research.  

Sheila teaches medical sociology on the MBChBcourse. She is a qualitative methodologist and her research is focussed on two main areas; the design and implementation of qualitative methodology as a component of mixed methods research; the methods people use to self-manage their health either ...

Dr Hanley is a historian of medicine and modern Britain and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, with particular interest in the history of sexual and reproductive health. Her publications span a broad range of topics in medicine, welfare and sexuality during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In recent years, her research and teaching have become increasingly interdisciplinary, drawing ...

Ciara Harris is a chartered physiotherapist, who worked clinically full-time within the NHS, across a range of clinical specialities, for 4 years before moving to the University of Birmingham as a research associate in February 2018. She also continues some clinical work alongside her research role.

Her research interests lie in the evolving delivery of acute healthcare outside the traditional ...

Dr Vanessa Heggie is a historian of modern science and medicine, with a particular interest in the history of nineteenth and twentieth century biomedical and life sciences. She also dabbles in the philosophy of science. 

Vanessa has published books on the history of exploration and physiology, and on sports medicine, and many articles and chapters on a range of topics from Victorian nursing ...

Anna Lavis is an Associate Professor in Medical Anthropology in the Institute of Applied Health Research, and the Institute for Mental Health. 

In a range of collaborations across academic, policy and clinical interfaces, her work has two core focuses:

1. Anna leads a programme of research into social media and health, with a particular focus on mental health. She directs the Social Media ...

Ian Litchfield is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Applied Health Sciences, University of Birmingham, with a background in occupational medicine and interests in health service delivery. He uses qualitative and quantitative research methods in the evaluation of service delivery interventions in both primary and secondary care. Ian is currently co-lead of the Centre of ...

Jonathan is an Associate Professor in Qualitative and Mixed Methods Applied Health Research.  He has broad based expertise in the application of qualitative and mixed methods research approaches in a range of applied health and policy contexts.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6651-6286

Dean is a Chartered Psychologist and NIHR Advanced Fellow in Mental Health and Mixed Methods Research at the Department of Applied Health. He is an advisor for NIHR Research Support Service (RSS), offering consultation with health and social care researchers on study design and delivery, patient and public involvement, and training and career opportunities.

ORCiD iD: 0000-0002-9095-5593

Rebecca is an Honorary Research Fellow for the four-year AHRC-funded project, ‘Forged by Fire: Burns Injuries and Identity in Britain, c.1800-2000’.

Rebecca is a historian of medicine and of Quakers. Her research and publications centre on the history of psychiatry, mental health, neurosurgery, neurodiversity, and First World War medicine and disability. She has worked with ...