Helen Bedford

Who Helen Bedford is

Professor Helen Bedford is Professor of Children's Health in the Population, Policy and Practice department at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. She has a background as a nurse and health visitor, and joined UCL in 1986 to work on a national study of childhood vaccine uptake. Vaccine acceptance and the determinants of vaccine uptake have remained the primary focus of her research and teaching. She chairs the national Personal Child Health Record (PCHR) committee — a multi-disciplinary group hosted by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health that oversees the national standard red book issued to all new parents in the UK. She is also director of the UCL master's programme in Paediatrics and Child Health and co-director of Education at UCL GOS ICH, and is frequently interviewed by TV, radio and other media on immunisation issues.

References for this biography

1. 1.Professor Helen Bedford – Institute of Health Visiting — Current role title, organisation, background as nurse/health visitor, chair of PCHR committee, iHV trustee from 2021, director of UCL MSc programme
2. 2.Helen Bedford – UCL Children's Policy Research Centre — Career history, MSc at King's College London, join date at ICH (1986), PCHR chair role, involvement in UK-WHO growth chart development (2009)
3. 3.Helen Bedford – Professor of Children's Health (speaker biography, 7BR) — Nursing and health visiting background, 30+ years at UCL ICH, primary research focus on vaccine uptake, media and Science Media Centre engagement
4. 4.Contact us – UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health — Organisation head-office address: 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH
5. 5.Helen Bedford (@HelenEBedford) on X — Confirmed X account: self-describes as 'Professor Child Health', 'Dir, MSc Paeds & Child Health, ucl.ac.uk/child-health'
6. 6.Action to maximise childhood vaccination is urgently needed – UCL Discovery — 2023 BMJ article co-authored by Helen Bedford on post-COVID childhood vaccination declines

Notable achievements

• Chairs the national PCHR (red book) committee hosted by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, overseeing the national standard child health record issued to all new parents in the UK. Source ↗
• As chair of the PCHR committee, was a member of the RCPCH group that developed the UK-WHO growth charts, launched in 2009 and now included in all PCHRs. Source ↗
• Became a trustee of the Institute of Health Visiting in 2021, taking on a specific portfolio for research. Source ↗
• Co-authored BMJ piece (2023) calling for urgent action to maximise childhood vaccination following post-COVID declines in uptake. Source ↗

What Helen Bedford has said

• “After a chickenpox infection the virus becomes dormant in the nerves but can reactivate later, presenting as shingles. Shingles is very nasty. There was concern that if circulation of wild virus was reduced as a result of childhood vaccination, the lack of 'top up' immunity that you get when virus circulates might lead to an increase in shingles. We now have a shingles vaccine programme for older people and have the benefit of other countries' experience of a varicella vaccination programme. The decision is evidence-based.”

  professor of children's health at University College London · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · UK children to get chickenpox vaccine with measles, mumps and rubella jab ↗

• “I was horrified, because it's not evidence-based and he is the most powerful man in the world. It was shocking because you know the impact it's going to have, not just on pregnant women but also because it implies that autism is something to be avoided. It was a horrifying announcement, damaging and dangerous.”

  Professor of child health at University College London (UCL) · Learning disability & autism · 27 Aug 2026 · ‘Don’t trust Trump’: how UK health experts are fighting back against a war on medicine ↗

Recent social activity

• Interested in post graduate study in Paediatrics and Child Health? look at our programme with 5 pathways. https://t.co/z5xjoeoWur… @Paedssoftlanding @WMPaeds @eastpaeds @LondonPaeds @NorthernPaeds @YorkshirePaeds @EastTrainees @rcpch_trainees @CommChildHealth @bacaph

  x.com ↗

• Follow me on Bluesky @cortina_borja @sally_kendall @UCLchildhealth @ich_ppp

  x.com ↗

Where Helen Bedford has been quoted

1. New guidance for health visitors on improving vaccination uptakenursinginpractice.com · 30 Sept 2026
2. UK children to get chickenpox vaccine with measles, mumps and rubella jabtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
3. ‘Don’t trust Trump’: how UK health experts are fighting back against a war on medicinetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• ‘It gave a lot of relief’: How guaranteed income changed one mother’s pregnancyCNN
• Metro Health’s Baby Buggy Walk and Health Expo spotlights infant mortalityWOAI
• Editorial | Tom Tiffany doesn’t care about Black infant mortalityThe Capital Times

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/6707-helen-bedfordpublished here ↗
• Xhttps://x.com/HelenEBedfordpublished here ↗
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-bedford-74654474/published here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.