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Heather Kitt
BSc, MB BCh BAO, MRCPCH, MPH
Clinical Research Fellow
Heather is a Research Training Fellow funded by Action Medical Research and a DPhil candidate. Heather is supervised by Professor Slater (Paediatric Neuroimaging Group) and Professor Stein (Mind & Behaviour Group).
Her research aims to elucidate the basic physiological pathways which underpin kangaroo mother care (KMC). KMC, a form of skin-to-skin contact where the baby is nursed on the chest of their care-giver, is considered standard care for all premature babies by the World Health Organization. Understanding the key causal mechanisms underpinning KMC could improve its implementation and enhance its benefits.
Heather is a paediatric registrar and member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She completed an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Paediatrics, based at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme. Heather developed her substantial research interest in reducing morbidity in premature babies when she led a study investigating neurodevelopmental outcomes of babies who had been discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit.
Following her time in Malawi, Heather was awarded a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship to attend Harvard University, graduating with a Master’s in Public Health. At Harvard, she continued to develop and refine her research skills to further her aim of improving outcomes for vulnerable babies.
Heather is a member of St. Anne’s College and is the recipient of the Oxford Paediatrics Graduate Scholarship; Prior to commencing her studies at Oxford University, she trained at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Heather completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science, and then went on to study Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast.