Dr Gemma Archer

Biography

Dr Gemma Archer is a Research Associate at King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR). She is currently investigating whether the long-term health of former servicemen has been affected by their exposure to chemical warfare agents. She has expertise in working with large longitudinal studies and has previously investigated the relationship between mental and physical health over a person’s lifetime using national cohort data; for example, whether depression and anxiety predict mortality, and to what extent this can be explained by behavioural, physiological, and social factors (e.g. smoking, inflammation, and socio-economic circumstances). Gemma completed an MSc in Social Epidemiology, and a PhD in Life Course Epidemiology at University College London. She has taught medical statistics and research methods for MSc and MBBS students, and regularly guest lectures at CIEE Global Institute on Public Mental Health and Life Course Epidemiology. 

Research Interests

• Psychiatric epidemiology and military health
• Social epidemiology
• Longitudinal research methods
• Relationship between mental and physical health
• Mindfulness interventions
• Policy and knowledge exchange
• Participatory Research

Teaching

• Psychology BSc - Research Methods
• War and Psychiatry MSc – Statistics

Expertise & Public Engagement

Gemma has undertaken placement at the Department of Health and has a strong interest in facilitating communication between researchers and policy makers, charities, and the general public. She was invited to speak at the Royal Society on how to improve research culture having reached the final of their ‘pitch’ competition.