Catherine Polling

Biography

Catherine joined King’s in 2009 when she began her Core Training in Psychiatry on the Maudsley Training Programme as an NIHR funded Academic Clinical Fellow. She currently holds a Wellcome training fellowship during which she has completed an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is now working towards a PhD in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN). Her PhD project uses mixed methods to explore variations in rates of self-harm between different areas and communities in London.

She trained in Medicine at University College London and did her Foundation medical training with South Thames Foundation School including jobs at King’s College Hospital and Southwark Public Health Team. She is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and works clinically in General Adult Psychiatry for South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

She has expertise in psychiatric epidemiology, self-harm and the use of mixed methods including multi-level modelling, Bayesian disease mapping techniques, data visualisation using Geographical Information Systems and use of large clinical datasets as well as qualitative data collection using interviews and focus groups and thematic analysis.

Research interests:

• Mental health inequalities
• Urban mental health
• Self-harm
• Public Mental Health
• Use of routine clinical data
• Disease mapping techniques
• Mixed methods research

Teaching:

• Lecture on ‘The Urban Environment and Mental Health’ and dissertation supervision for Urban Informatics MSc, Centre for Urban Science and Progress London, Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, KCL
• Co-lead ‘Managing conflict’ day, IMPARTS Mental Health Skills for Non-Mental Health Professionals course, Department of Psychological Medicine, IoPPN, KCL.
• Facilitation of medical undergraduate Reflective Practice groups, GKT School of Medical Education, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, KCL

Expertise and public engagement:

• Co-facilitator of course ‘Understanding Self-harm’, SLaM Recovery College
• Member of the steering group of the Maudsley Cultural Psychiatry Group