Dr Shuby PuthusseryAcademic

Associate Professor in Maternal and Child Public Health; Director, Maternal and Child Health Research Centre

University of Bedfordshire is based in Luton South and South Bedfordshire (Luton)

Cited in UK press coverage of health & social care

2 citations

Across 1 topic, first on 27 Aug 2026.

Biography

Dr Shuby Puthussery is Associate Professor in Maternal and Child Public Health and Director of the Maternal and Child Health Research Centre at the Institute for Health Research, University of Bedfordshire, where she has been based since October 2012. She holds an MSc in International Health from the University of Heidelberg and a DrPH in Public Health from the University of Bielefeld, Germany, and previously held academic roles at the University of Greenwich and City University of London. With more than 20 years of experience in higher education, she leads a multidisciplinary research programme focused on risk factors for poor maternal and infant health and inequalities in care experiences. She has been principal investigator on multiple national and international grants, including the NIHR Maternity Disparities Consortium, where she leads the Maternity Care Access, Communication and Experience (M-ACE) workstream. Her research centres on ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in maternity care, respectful maternity care, and the co-design of community-based interventions for underserved populations. She has also led WHO-commissioned systematic reviews that informed the 2023 WHO guidelines on prevention and management of malnutrition in infants and children under five.

References

1.Dr Shuby Puthussery | University of Bedfordshire (Institute for Health Research staff page) — Current role title, centre directorship, joining date, previous institutions, current grants as PI
2.Dr Shuby Puthussery | SciProfiles Author Profile — Academic qualifications (MSc Heidelberg, DrPH Bielefeld), 20+ years in higher education, multidisciplinary research programme description
3.University academics contribute to new WHO guidelines on malnutrition | University of Bedfordshire — WHO-commissioned research led by Puthussery informing 2023 WHO malnutrition guidelines
4.University of Bedfordshire leads pioneering research to transform access, communication and experience of maternal health care | Bedford Today — Puthussery's leadership of the M-ACE workstream within the £50m NIHR Maternity Disparities Consortium (2026)

Expertise

Cited on

Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

Maternal health inequalities
Ethnic disparities in maternity care
Antenatal care access
Infant nutrition and malnutrition
Community-based maternity interventions
International public health

Notable achievements

Led WHO-commissioned research at the University of Bedfordshire that informed the 2023 WHO guidelines on prevention and management of acute malnutrition in infants and children under five years old. Source ↗
Appointed principal investigator and lead for the NIHR Maternity Disparities Consortium's Maternity Care Access, Communication and Experience (M-ACE) workstream, part of a £50 million five-year NIHR programme. Source ↗
University of Bedfordshire selected as one of nine UK universities in the NIHR Challenge Maternity Disparities Consortium, with Puthussery leading the MIRA-E (Maternity Inequalities Research Alliance – East of England) collaboration. Source ↗
Authored over 100 publications including peer-reviewed journal articles, commissioned reports, and online learning resources; serves on the editorial board of BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. Source ↗
Published a 2024 BMJ commentary arguing that successful co-production can help tackle inequalities in maternal health outcomes.

What they’ve said

“It's worrying that over 50% of births involved medical intervention. But it's linked to a broader demographic trend. We see a rather worrying trend of births to [older] women increasing year by year, along with significant increases in factors such as obesity, maternal diabetes and pre-existing medical conditions, leading to more complex medically assisted births, especially among women from ethnic minority groups and those living in poverty.”
associate professor in maternal and child health at the University of Bedfordshire · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · More than half of UK births now involve medical intervention, audit finds ↗
“Home births should be supported by experienced midwives with enhanced midwifery skills who are formally assessed as competent and confident to provide care for women within the home birth environment.”
Associate professor in maternal and child health at the University of Bedfordshire · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Women must be warned of home birth risks and have access to skilled midwives, experts say ↗

Source references

More than half of UK births now involve medical intervention, audit findstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Women must be warned of home birth risks and have access to skilled midwives, experts saytheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

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Professors, researchers and think-tank analysts quoted on the strength of their research rather than a clinical role. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.