Skip to main content
Jane Sandall

Professor Jane Sandall CBE FMedSci PhD RM

Professor of Social Science and Women's Health

Research interests

  • Women

Biography

Jane Sandall is a Professor of Social Science and Women’s Health in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s College London. She is an NIHR Senior Investigator Emerita and was the second midwife elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2024. She has a clinical background in nursing, health visiting, midwifery, and an academic background in social sciences.

She was appointed the first Head of Maternity and Midwifery Research at NHS England in 2021-2023. This inaugural role focused on strengthening the translational research pathway to policy, to which she brings experience of co-chairing a Department of Health (England) Midwifery 2020 review of the contribution of midwifery to maternity policy and practice and a ministerial appointed expert on the Irish Maternity Review.

Research

Recognised as a global leader, and ranked in the top five experts on Midwifery in the world by Expertscape in 2013-2023, her research has informed maternity policy, service delivery internationally.

Her multi-disciplinary research focuses on the impact of innovative health technologies, maternity care organisation and service delivery, to improve experience, care and outcomes for women and babies nationally and globally. She brings methodological expertise in systematic reviews, hybrid-implementation trial methodology and implementation science to research complex interventions.

She contributes to several research programmes. For example, she co-led King’s Patient Safety Research Programme, leading a workstream on innovative technology and models of care to improve escalation of care in acute medical and maternity settings, and exploring the response to concerns of patients and families. This included a Cochrane review of interventions to increase patient and family involvement in escalation of care which informed her recent research looking at open disclosure in perinatal care and ‘what good looks like’ for families, staff and organisational learning.

She co-leads the Tommys National Centre for Maternity Improvement who developed and are testing the impact of a clinical decision support tool to improve management of women at higher risk of preterm birth and stillbirth. She co-leads NIHR ARC South London Maternity and Perinatal Mental Health theme which focuses on interventions to mitigate inequities in care, experience and outcomes for women and babies.

She is a co-investigator in NIHR CRIBBS Global Health Group to prevent maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in Sierra Leone where she co-led a trial of a 2YoungLives community mentoring programme for pregnant teenagers in Sierra Leone showing a significant reduction in stillbirth and neonatal mortality published in the Lancet.

Knowledge Mobilisation

She contributed to the International Lancet series on the contribution of midwifery globally to preventing maternal and perinatal mortality and improving quality of care, and the Lancet Series on Optimising Caesarean Section Use. She is lead author of a Cochrane Review on Continuity of Midwife Care whose findings inform national, international and WHO policy/guidelines.

She was selected to join the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) for maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health, and nutrition advising the Director General and co-chairs the STAGE working group on the midwifery contribution to reduction in maternal and perinatal mortality.

She has advised a range of government departments and agencies including National Maternity Strategy Steering Group external advisor – Ireland (ministerial appointment), and currently advises NICE, NHS England, Sands and Tommy’s Policy Unit, Race and Health Observatory, and NMPA. She also contributes to a range of NIHR, and UKRC research panels.

Esteem

She received an honorary doctorate, and Distinguished Visiting Professor Award from University of Technology, Sydney, NIHR Senior Investigator awards, CBE for services to women’s health, Honorary Fellowship Royal College of Midwives, NHS England Chief Midwife’s Gold Award, King’s College, London student nominated Supervisory Excellence Award in 2014 and 2025, and King’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.

Bluesky account: @sandallj.bsky.social

ORCID Profile

    Research

    global
    Global Maternal Health

    Global Maternal Health

    hypertension 2
    Maternal Hypertension

    The Hypertension group strategy focuses on improving outcomes for women with hypertension in pregnancy

    Health and social care policy msc wide banner
    Maternal And Child Health Systems and Policy Research (MAPS)

    The Maternal and Perinatal Systems and Policy (MAPS) Research Group assumes a life-course approach which is engaged with basic and clinical science research that has the potential to improve health care quality and outcomes from bench to population health, through policy relevant world class evidence synthesis, implementation and service delivery research.

    News

    Community based mentoring in Sierra Leone for pregnant adolescents and their babies doubles survival rates

    An innovative community-based mentoring scheme for pregnant adolescent girls in Sierra Leone has been found to save lives.

    mumsandbabiessierraleone

    New report identifies actions to improve open disclosure in England's NHS maternity services when babies die or are harmed

    A new study looking at the experiences of families and healthcare professionals following incidents involving NHS maternity care highlights critical factors...

    Animation of open disclosure processes within NHS maternity services in England.

    Three King's academics elected as Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences

    Professors Ammar Al-Chalabi, Maddy Parsons and Jane Sandall have been elected as Fellows of the prestigious Academy in recognition of their industry-leading...

    Academic Fellows

    Midwife continuity of care model linked to positive experiences during pregnancy

    Researchers find that women who experienced midwife continuity of care models are more likely to experience a spontaneous vaginal birth, less likely to...

    Midwife and patient

    Seeing the same midwives improves birthing experience for high-risk mothers

    Seeing the same midwives throughout the perinatal period makes a substantial difference to a women’s feelings of calm and confidence during pregnancy and...

    Midwife and patient

    New tool to help improve maternity care secures funding for NHS trial

    A tool that enables midwives and doctors to more accurately assess each woman’s needs during pregnancy has been awarded £1.8million.

    pregnant woman

    New guidance published on how best to support qualitative researchers

    The guidance has been developed to protect and support qualitative researchers who conduct research and analyse data on sensitive, challenging, and difficult...

    A diverse group of people sit in a circle and have a discussion

    Telemedicine in critical care still not widely adopted despite technological advancements

    Cochrane Review examines the international evidence base on the implementation of telemedicine in critical care

    Stethoscope lying next to a smartphone

    Professor Jane Sandall appointed first-ever Head of Midwifery Research at NHS England

    Professor Jane Sandall CBE has been seconded to design and lead the midwifery research strategy for NHS England and Improvement on behalf of the Chief...

    baby and mother

    Pregnant women with serious mental illnesses found to be at higher risk of renal failure, heart attacks and embolisms around childbirth

    New research from King’s College London shows that women with serious mental illnesses (SMI) which required specialist care were more likely to have a...

    Pregnant woman sat on a bed resting her hand on her head looking distressed

    Spotlight

    Improving outcomes of high-risk pregnancy

    Addressing an unmet meet need for strategies to identify women and babies at risk of serious complications of pregnancy

    A health professional talking to a patient.

      Research

      global
      Global Maternal Health

      Global Maternal Health

      hypertension 2
      Maternal Hypertension

      The Hypertension group strategy focuses on improving outcomes for women with hypertension in pregnancy

      Health and social care policy msc wide banner
      Maternal And Child Health Systems and Policy Research (MAPS)

      The Maternal and Perinatal Systems and Policy (MAPS) Research Group assumes a life-course approach which is engaged with basic and clinical science research that has the potential to improve health care quality and outcomes from bench to population health, through policy relevant world class evidence synthesis, implementation and service delivery research.

      News

      Community based mentoring in Sierra Leone for pregnant adolescents and their babies doubles survival rates

      An innovative community-based mentoring scheme for pregnant adolescent girls in Sierra Leone has been found to save lives.

      mumsandbabiessierraleone

      New report identifies actions to improve open disclosure in England's NHS maternity services when babies die or are harmed

      A new study looking at the experiences of families and healthcare professionals following incidents involving NHS maternity care highlights critical factors...

      Animation of open disclosure processes within NHS maternity services in England.

      Three King's academics elected as Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences

      Professors Ammar Al-Chalabi, Maddy Parsons and Jane Sandall have been elected as Fellows of the prestigious Academy in recognition of their industry-leading...

      Academic Fellows

      Midwife continuity of care model linked to positive experiences during pregnancy

      Researchers find that women who experienced midwife continuity of care models are more likely to experience a spontaneous vaginal birth, less likely to...

      Midwife and patient

      Seeing the same midwives improves birthing experience for high-risk mothers

      Seeing the same midwives throughout the perinatal period makes a substantial difference to a women’s feelings of calm and confidence during pregnancy and...

      Midwife and patient

      New tool to help improve maternity care secures funding for NHS trial

      A tool that enables midwives and doctors to more accurately assess each woman’s needs during pregnancy has been awarded £1.8million.

      pregnant woman

      New guidance published on how best to support qualitative researchers

      The guidance has been developed to protect and support qualitative researchers who conduct research and analyse data on sensitive, challenging, and difficult...

      A diverse group of people sit in a circle and have a discussion

      Telemedicine in critical care still not widely adopted despite technological advancements

      Cochrane Review examines the international evidence base on the implementation of telemedicine in critical care

      Stethoscope lying next to a smartphone

      Professor Jane Sandall appointed first-ever Head of Midwifery Research at NHS England

      Professor Jane Sandall CBE has been seconded to design and lead the midwifery research strategy for NHS England and Improvement on behalf of the Chief...

      baby and mother

      Pregnant women with serious mental illnesses found to be at higher risk of renal failure, heart attacks and embolisms around childbirth

      New research from King’s College London shows that women with serious mental illnesses (SMI) which required specialist care were more likely to have a...

      Pregnant woman sat on a bed resting her hand on her head looking distressed

      Spotlight

      Improving outcomes of high-risk pregnancy

      Addressing an unmet meet need for strategies to identify women and babies at risk of serious complications of pregnancy

      A health professional talking to a patient.