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Noreen Mdege
Reader in Public Health

Profile

Biography

I am a Reader in Public Health. My role in the University covers both research and teaching. My applied health research experience spans over 20 years, and I focus on key components of public health initiatives with interconnected priorities for improving population health. This includes leading research on determinants of health, and communicable and non-communicable disease prevention and control. I have conducted research in South East Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India); Sub-Saharan Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, The Gambia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe); the USA; and the UK. I particularly have strong collaborative partnerships with governmental and academic institutions, civil society organizations, health care providers and other stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa. I have a sustained, demonstrable track record of conducting decision-relevant research, and producing high-quality outputs with major influence within and beyond my academic areas. Examples include research that informed the 2023 WHO guideline on the prevention and management of wasting and nutritional oedema (‎acute malnutrition)‎ in infants and children under 5 years; and research on illicit cigarette trade in the DRC that led to national-level customs officers training on how to strengthen border controls and secure cigarette supply chains. I am the founder and Director of the Centre for Research in Health and Development (CRIHDev), where my research is specially curated to support academics from minoritised ethnic groups in achieving their self-defined key milestones.

Since joining the University of York in 2009, I have contributed extensively to postgraduate teaching through delivering lectures, module and programme leadership, and providing academic and pastoral support to students. I have been Programme Director for the Master of Public Health since 2023. I served as Deputy Programme Director and then Programme Director for the Postgraduate Certificate in Health Research and Statistics (2019-2023). In 2025, I was awarded Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. This distinction reflects my sustained academic leadership and excellence in teaching and learning, and
long-term contribution to enhancing the student learning experience, advancing pedagogical practice and a positive and measurable impact on colleagues teaching. It also acknowledges my effective coordination, mentoring and support of others in teaching and learning.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Health Sciences, University of York, UK
  • MSc in Health Economics and Decision Modelling, The University of Sheffield, UK
  • Master of Public Health, University of Leeds, UK
  • Post-Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice, University of York, UK
  • Bachelor of Pharmacy Honors Degree, University of Zimbabwe

Departmental roles

Research

Overview

I have over 20 years’ experience leading and managing policy-relevant, national- and international-level research projects/programmes in:

  • Sub-Saharan Africa: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, The Gambia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
  • Asia: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Yemen
  • Europe: United Kingdom
  • North America: USA

I have led and managed over 16 research projects/programmes in academia, and with international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies such as the World Health Organization. My research covers a wide range of public health areas including: tobacco control; nutrition; air pollution; alcohol consumption; use of other psychoactive substances; obesity; sexual and reproductive health; HIV prevention, treatment and care; hepatitis B and C; vaccine policy; medication adherence; and health service delivery.

My methodological expertise is as follows:

  • quantitative cross-sectional surveys
  • analysis of large, population-level quantitative datasets
  • mixed methods
  • systematic reviews and meta-analysis
  • complex intervention development
  • intervention effectiveness evaluation through randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs
  • health economic evaluations, either using trial-based data or through building decision analytic models to aid decision-making on health policy; and

Projects

  • 2026-present: The cost implications of implementing the 2023 WHO guidelines for treating acute malnutrition in children under five years of age. I am leading a multi-country team of health economists, evidence synthesis specialists and qualitative researchers in estimating the cost per child recovered from, and cost-effectiveness of different treatment modalities for child wasting. This project covers up to 10 of the ~24 countries participating in the Global Action Plan (GAP) on Child Wasting, including Kenya, Madagascar and Yemen.

Recently Completed projects

  • 2022-2025: Data on Youth and Tobacco in Africa. I led and managed a consortium comprising interdisciplinary, multi-country teams in designing and implementing nationally representative household, cross-sectional surveys on the use of tobacco and nicotine products in the DRC, Kenya and Nigeria.

  • 2021 to 2023: Tobacco Control Data Initiative. I led tobacco control research
    prioritisation, and the design and implementation of multi-country research to address these priorities across six African countries. The studies covered: illicit cigarette trade (DRC, Zambia), tobacco advertising and promotion (Ethiopia), smoke-free environments (Ethiopia), tobacco related morbidity/mortality (Kenya), shisha use (Nigeria), and electronic cigarette use (South Africa)

     

     

     

Other Completed Projects

 

 

Research group(s)

Supervision

PhD Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhDs that focus on low- and middle-income countries, and topics that align with my research interests and/or experience (see above).

Current PhD students: Maryam Sahli

Past PhD students: Zainab Kidwai

Publications

Full publications list

Teaching

Postgraduate

I have led postgraduate programmes since 2019, including the development, design and continual enhancement of the programmes to ensure academic excellence, relevance and coherence. I have also led postgraduate modules since 2019, and since 2015, I have designed, planned and delivered lectures across seven modules for MPH programmes at four Universities – York (2015-present); Witwatersrand (2021); Leeds (2016-2018); and Roehampton (2015-2017). Below is a summary of my involvement in teaching at the University of York.

Postgraduate Programme Leadership
2023-present: Program Director, Master of Public Health
2021-2023: Program Director, Postgraduate Certificate in Health Research and Statistics
2019-2021: Deputy Programme Director, Post-Graduate Certificate in Health Research and Statistics

Postgraduate Module Leadership
2024- 2025: Deputy Module Lead, Public Health Foundations and Practice
2021 – 2023: Module Lead, Health Research and Statistics
2019 – 2021: Deputy Module Lead, Health Research and Statistics

Modules taught
2024 – present: Global Public Health
2019 - 2023: Health Research and Statistics
2015 – 2021: Infection and Diseases


Postgraduate student supervision
I am able to supervise Masters projects with a broad focus on communicable and/or non-communicable diseases. Favoured approaches for Masters projects are evidence synthesis and quantitative data analysis.

External activities

Memberships

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK

Editorial duties

  • 2025 – 2026: Guest Associate Editor, Frontiers in Public Health. Special Issue: “Adolescent Smoking, Alcohol Consumption and Psychoactive Substance Misuse in Low-Middle Income Countries”
  • 2023 – 2024: Series Editor, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. “Methodological Considerations Related to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion”
  • 2019 – present: Editorial Board Member, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
  • 2016: Editor for a supplement 'Proceedings of the First International Conference on Stepped Wedge Trial Design' for the journal 'Trials'
  • 2015 – 2020: Editorial Board Member, Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy

Invited talks and conferences

  • Keynote speaker- Inspire Her Africa Graduation Ceremony - Celebrating Women Who Dare to Build, 1 November 2025 (Online). ‘Fly as high as your heart desires and keep your feet on the ground.’

  • Poster presentations- The Union World Conference on Lung Health, 12-16 November 2024, Bali, Indonesia. ‘Factors associated with shisha smoking: results from a cross-sectional telephone-based survey among general population adults in Nigeria.’

  • Oral presentation- Gates Tobacco Control Core Partners Meeting, 23-26 October 2022, Johannesburg, South Africa. ‘Tobacco Control Data Initiative Research Updates.’

  • Invited speaker- York Patient Safety Conference, 9 June 2017, York, United Kingdom. ‘How to write for publication.’

  • Poster presentation- Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco 2017 Annual Meeting, March 8-11, 2017, Firenze Fiera Congress & Exhibition Center Florence, Italy. ‘Tobacco use among people living with HIV: analysis of data from Demographic and Health Surveys from 28 low- and middle-income countries.’

  • Invited speaker- The Union World Conference on Lung Health, 26-29 October 2016, Liverpool, United Kingdom. ‘Prevalence of tobacco use in HIV patients in low- and middle-income countries: secondary data analyses based on Demographic and Health Surveys.’

  • Oral presentation- INEBRIA Conference, 22-23 September 2016, Lausanne, Switzerland. ‘Attitudes and perceptions on community pharmacy (CP)- based alcohol interventions: a scoping review.’

  • Oral presentation- UK Society for Behavioural Medicine 12th Annual Scientific Meeting, 1-2 December 2016, Cardiff, Wales. ‘Scoping review with narrative synthesis of selected bodies of evidence on what is known about novel psychoactive substance use, related harms and responses.’

  • Poster presentations- Society for the Study of Addiction Annual Symposium, 08-09 November 2012, York, United Kingdom. ‘Screening instruments for detecting illicit drug use/abuse that could be useful in general hospital wards: a systematic review.’

  • Poster presentation- HSRN Symposium- Delivering better health services, 19-20 June 2012, Manchester, United Kingdom. ‘Screening instruments for detecting illicit drug use/abuse that could be useful in general hospital wards: a systematic review.’

Awards and prizes

  • April 2017: NCI-CRUK Knowledge Integration Sandpit travel award
  • August 2014: Reviewer of the Year - Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
  • March 2014: Top reviewer of the Year 2013, Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy

Noreen Mdege

Contact details

Dr Noreen Mdege
Reader in Public Health

Tel: 01904 32(1836)

@noreenmdege