Ann John

Employer| Swansea University
Known for| Adolescent mental health, Suicide and Self-harm prevention

Ann John, FLSW, is a professor of public health and psychiatry at Swansea University Medical School. She chairs the National Advisory Group to the Welsh Government on the prevention of suicide and self-harm. She also serves as an honorary consultant in public health medicine for Public Health Wales and is a trustee of the Mental Health Foundation.[1][circular reference]. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.[2]

## Education

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John's parents arrived in London from Kerala in 1966.[3] She was born and grew up in London. She was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls[4][circular reference] and then Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School[5][circular reference] where she qualified as a doctor.[6] During her medical degree she intercalated to study sociology, which began an interest in inequality.[3] She earned a Medical Doctorate at Swansea University in 2011, where she established a Suicide and Self-Harm research group.[7][8]

## Career

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She moved to Swansea as a junior doctor, where she worked in accident and emergency at Morriston Hospital.[3] John has been a general practitioner, a medical advisor to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and a Clinical Assistant in Psychiatry.[3] She is now an academic researcher and has contributed considerably to research into children and young people's mental health and suicide and self-harm prevention.[9]

## Mental health, including prevention of suicide and self-harm

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Her expertise lie in epidemiology, suicide and mental disorders.[10] She is a Principal Investigator with the National Centre for Mental Health, where she leads the informatics group.[8] She is a Farr Institute Investigator where uses big data to understand mental health in young people.[11] In 2017, after looking at data on psychotropic prescribing from over 300,000 patients aged between 6 and 18 years old, guidance was issued on managing depression and antidepressant prescribing to children and young people (in particular citalopram) and access to talking therapies.[12][13]

John's Adolescent Data Platform, funded by MQ, is the biggest of its kind for young people's mental health.[14][15] It brings together scientists from several universities, aiming to make it easier for young people to access quality mental health services.[15] She received an Arts Council of Wales grant to partner with an artist and help young people express what they are thinking.[16] She worked with Self-Harm Research UK (SHARE) to better understand and support people who self-harm.[17]

She developed the Wales strategy for suicide and self-harm.[3][18] She is particularly concerned about cyberbullying and the impacts it has on young people.[19][20] In 2018 she found victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to enact suicidal behaviour.[21][22]

In 2022 John was part of a group examining the use of machine learning in suicide prevention.[23]

## References

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1. ^ Mental Health Foundation
2. ^ Wales, The Learned Society of. "Ann John". The Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
3. ^ a b c d e "Ann John". www.swansea.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
4. ^ Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
5. ^ Charing Cross and Westminster Medical Schoo
6. ^ "Professor Ann John | NCMH". NCMH. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
7. ^ "Suicide and Self Harm Satellite | Cochrane Common Mental Disorders". cmd.cochrane.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
8. ^ a b "Ann John". The Conversation. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
9. ^ "Professor Ann John". www.swansea.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
10. ^ "Professor Ann John". www.swansea.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
11. ^ SemiColonWeb. "Prof Ann John | PACTS". www.pacts.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
12. ^ "Farr Institute | Using Big Data to Understand Mental Health in Young People". www.farrinstitute.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
13. ^ Knapton, Sarah (2016-09-08). "Doctors prescribing anti-depressant drugs linked to suicidal thoughts to teens against advice, study finds". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
14. ^ "This data platform aims to get the answers we need faster on young people's mental health". MQ: Transforming Mental Health. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
15. ^ a b "New data platform promises 'step change' in young people's mental health research". MQ: Transforming Mental Health. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
16. ^ Youle, Richard (2017-08-21). "Young people in Swansea were asked how they felt and created these 3D images". walesonline. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
17. ^ "Shareuk Needs Your Help Regarding Selfharm | PAPYRUS". www.papyrus-uk.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
18. ^ John, Ann; Dennis, M.; Kosnes, L.; Gunnell, D.; Scourfield, J.; Ford, D. V.; Lloyd, K. (2014-11-01). "Suicide Information Database-Cymru: a protocol for a population-based, routinely collected data linkage study to explore risks and patterns of healthcare contact prior to suicide to identify opportunities for intervention". BMJ Open. 4 (11): e006780. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006780. ISSN 2044-6055. PMC 4248097. PMID 25424996.
19. ^ "Professor Ann John – WISE KIDS Summit 2017". wisekidssummit.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
20. ^ "Young victims of cyberbullying twice as likely to attempt suicide and self-harm". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
21. ^ "Young victims of cyberbullying twice as likely to attempt suicide and self-harm, study finds". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
22. ^ John, Ann; Glendenning, Alexander Charles; Marchant, Amanda; Montgomery, Paul; Stewart, Anne; Wood, Sophie; Lloyd, Keith; Hawton, Keith (2018). "Self-Harm, Suicidal Behaviours, and Cyberbullying in Children and Young People: Systematic Review". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 20 (4): e129. doi:10.2196/jmir.9044. PMC 5934539. PMID 29674305.
23. ^ Balbuena, Lloyd D.; Baetz, Marilyn; Sexton, Joseph Andrew; Harder, Douglas; Feng, Cindy Xin; Boctor, Kerstina; Lapointe, Candace; Letwiniuk, Elizabeth; Shamloo, Arash; Ishwaran, Hemant; John, Ann; Brantsæter, Anne Lise (2022). "Identifying long-term and imminent suicide predictors in a general population and a clinical sample with machine learning". BMC Psychiatry. 22 (1): 120. doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03702-y. PMC 8848909. PMID 35168594.

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