Prof Arpana Verma MBChB, MPH, PhD, FFPH
Clinical Professor of Public health and Epidemiology

- Division of Population Health, Health Services Research & Primary Care (L5), Division of Population Health, Health Services Research & Primary Care
- Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing, School of Social Sciences
- Manchester Urban Institute, School of Environment, Education and Development
- Manchester Environmental Research Institute, FSE Research Institutes
Overview
Prof Arpana Verma is Head of the Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care. She is Director of Manchester Urban Collaboration on Health (MUCH) a WHO Collaborating Centre and honorary Consultant in Public Health at PHE. MUCH is based within the School of Health Sciences in the Faculty of Biology, Medical and Human Sciences. MUCH performs high quality research, teaching and training, in the field of public health and has established links to local, national and international public health organisations (www.manchester.ac.uk/much). MUCH was designated the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Health Indicators.
Prof Verma is currently the Programme Director for the Masters in Public Health and MRes in Public Health/Prim online distance learning course, which offers an innovative approach to learning, meeting the training needs for health professionals interested in a career in public health or those seeking new skills in this area (http://www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/programmes/taughtmasters/ph/mph). She is also the Evaluation Lead for Well North, a collaborative programme which is developing, testing and piloting a set of linked interventions to improve the health of the poorest, fastest, in some of the most deprived areas of the North of England (http://www.mahsc.ac.uk/for-patients-and-the-public/well-north/). She is the teaching lead for the MAHSC Global Health theme and a board member of cities@manchester (http://www.cities.manchester.ac.uk/)
Prof Verma was the principle investigator (PI) of the European Urban Health Indicator System project (EURO-URHIS 2) funded by DG Research under the FP7 programme (http://www.urhis.eu/), and is also the president of the European Public Health Association section on Urban Health (http://www.eupha.org/urban-public-health).
She is also PI on a number of health service research projects, primarily in hepatitis C and blood borne virus prevention, infection control, immunisation including MMR and HPV vaccine. Many of these projects involve data linkage of health indicators, risk factors and the wider determinants of health to help understand the urban challenges to health both within the UK and globally. The most recent EU grant consists of investigating health ageing in cities.
Prof Verma is also an expert for WHO, which has led to several publications (http://www.who.int/kobe_centre/publications/urban_metrics2011/en/index.html http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/172509/Developing-indicators-for-the-Health-2020-targets-Eng.pdf )
Prof Verma also runs training events for public health professionals including the Public Health Grand Rounds, Festival of Public Health and with MAHSC, the 11th International Conference on Urban Health 2014 (http://www.festivalofpublichealth.co.uk/ http://www.icuh2014.com/).
She also holds an honorary consultant post at Public Health England.
Biography
I qualified as a doctor from the University of Manchester in 1995. Prior to this I worked at the Manchester Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre, South Manchester University NHS Trust and in Respiratory Medicine.
I thoroughly enjoy teaching and currently teach undergraduates and postgraduates from a variety of backgrounds. My research interestes include urban health, hepatitis C and blood borne viruses. I set up the Manchester Urban Collaboration on Health which is part of the Centre for Epidemiology. More information regarding all our projects can be found on the intranet.
Qualifications
MBChB University of Manchester 1995
MPH (Distinction) University of Manchester 2006
MFPH Faculty of Public Health 2007 (by examination)
PhD University of Manchester 2011
FFPH Faculty of Public Health 2011 (through nomination)
Memberships of committees and professional bodies
British Thoracic Society (BTS)
Diabetes UK
Faculty of Public Health
Public Health Educators in Medical Schools (PHEMS)
European Public Health Association (EUPHA)
International Society of Urban Health (ISUH)
American Association of Public Health (APHA)
Manchester Medical Society
External positions
Honorary Consultant, Public Health England (PHE)
Areas of expertise
Research Networks and Beacons
Biology, Medicine and Health (BMH) Domains
Keywords
- Public health, health protection, blood borne viruses, respiratory, Urban health, global inequalities
Related information
Publications
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Other contribution
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Media coverage and contribution
Press/Media: Expert comment
Press/Media: Expert comment
Prizes
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Prize: National/international honour