Judith Stephenson is the Margaret Pyke Professor of Sexual & Reproductive Health at UCL, and Honorary Consultant in Sexual & Reproductive Health at CNWL and Honorary Consultant in Women’s Health at UCLH.

After training in clinical medicine at the University of Oxford and UCL Medical School and junior hospital doctor posts in London, she studied epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.  For the past 30 years she has held academic posts at UCL, first in HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease Epidemiology, and currently in Women’s Reproductive Health.

Judith’s research has changed policy and practice nationally and internationally, e.g. in relation to chlamydia screening and preconception health.  Her current research spans prevention of pregnancy https://www.contraceptionchoices.org, planning and preparation for pregnancy and how the preconception period influences mother and child health across the life course.

She received the UCL prize for Leadership in Public Engagement in 2012, an NIHR Senior Investigator Awards in 2014, renewed in 2019 and the Women of Achievement in Healthcare Award from Women in the City, 2015.

Selected publications:

  • Stephenson J, Vogel C, Hall J, Hutchinson J, Mann S, Duncan H, Woods-Townsend K, de Lusignan S, Poston L, Cade J,  Godfrey K, Hanson M, Barrett G, Barker M, Conti G, Shannon F, Colbourn T, for the Preconception Partnership (2019). Preconception health in England: a proposal for annual reporting with core metrics. The Lancet doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30311-8
  • Stephenson J, Heslehurst N, Hall J, Schoenaker D, Hutchinson J, Cade J, Poston L, Barrett G, Crozier S, Kumaran K,  Yanjik C, Barker M, Baird J & Mishra G (2018). Lancet series on preconception health Paper 1 - Before the beginning: nutrition and lifestyle in the preconception period and its importance for future health. The Lancet doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30311-8
  • Fleming T, Watkins A, Velazquez MA, Mathers JC, Prentice AM, Stephenson J, Barker ME, Saffery R, Yajnik CS, Eckert JJ, Hanson MA, Forrester T, Gluckman PD & Godfrey KM (2018). Lancet series on preconception health Paper 2 - Origins of lifetime health around the time of conception: causes and consequences. The Lancet doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30312-X
  • Barker M, Dombrowski SU, Colbourn T, Fall CHD, Kriznik NM, Lawrence W, Norris SA, Ngaiza G, Patel D, Skordis-Worrall J, Sniehotta FF, Steegers-Theunissen R, Vogel C, Woods-Townsend K & Stephenson J (2018). Lancet series on preconception health Paper 3 - Intervention strategies to improve nutrition and health behaviours before conception. The Lancet doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30313-1
  • Stephenson, JM., Shawe, J., Panicker, S., Brima, N., Copas, A., Sauer, U, O’Brien, P. (2013). Randomised trial of the effect of tailored versus standard use of the combined oral contraceptive pill on continuation rates at one year. Contraception, 88 (4), 523-531

Further details of her academic work can be found online.