Cristina is a senior research fellow in the Maternal Health Systems, Policy and Implementation Research Group at the Department of Women & Children’s Health at the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King's. Her background is in nursing, midwifery and public health with nearly two decades of clinical, academic and research experience in both high and low and middle income countries. She is a PRINCE2 practitioner and holds a Diploma in Tropical Nursing, a MPH and a PhD in Public Health.

Cristina has led and contributed to clinical and applied health research in relation to tropical and infectious diseases, complex interventions in maternal, child and adolescent health, and implementation research with a focus to address global health challenges and inequities. She is one of the cofounders of the UK Chagas Hub, a network to tackle Chagas disease among the Latin American community in the UK. Cristina also teaches in the School, supervises MSc and PhD students, and participates in national/international funding committees and advisory groups. She is a member of the WHO HRP Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG). 

Her main interests include research capacity exchange in global health, hybrid implementation-effectiveness trials, and health policy, particularly within the area of sexual and reproductive health; she is open to enquiries from prospective students with similar research interests.