Emeritus Professor and member of the university’s BAME network, Professor Gina Awoko Higginbottom MBE, has been appointed as a fellow of the prestigious Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI).

QNI Fellows are known leaders within their sphere of expertise, with a high profile in the health and care sector, and the respect and recognition of their peers.

Fellowship of the QNI was introduced in 2000, with the aim of creating a body of support for the Institute that could provide professional advice, and field intelligence, on practice, research, policy and heath service management.

Fellows help the QNI to extend the reach of their work and are known leaders within their sphere of expertise; usually primary care or community based services.

In 2015, Professor Higginbottom was appointed as the Mary Seacole Professor of Ethnicity and Community Health at the university – the first nurse of BME origin to hold a professorship in a Russell Group university in England – and is now Professor Emerita.

Professor Higginbottom’s career as a nurse, midwife and health visitor spanned 22 years and she later returned to the university as Mary Seacole Professor of Ethnicity and Community Health in its School of Health Sciences, where her research focused on ethnic minority populations and immigrant health.

She is a recipient of a number of prestigious awards including a National Primary Care Research Fellowship which supported her PhD the first health visitor to receive this award. She has held visiting professorships at Karolinska Institute, Sweden, the University of Pennsylvania, University of California Davis, Seattle University, US and the University of Sao Paolo, Federal University, Brazil.

Her research focuses on ethnic minority populations and immigrant health, including social exclusion and equity in healthcare and ethno-cultural diversity in care giving. She has held many professional roles Non-Executive Director Sheffield Health Authority, member of CNO England advisory groups and the International Institute of Qualitative Methodologies.

Regarded as one of the leading researchers in her field Professor Higginbottom’s recent research focused on the Apgar score and other neonatal tests for infants with darker skin, which has challenged widely held beliefs about neonatal assessment in diverse populations globally.

The research launched in the House of Commons received extensive media coverage and global interest. Rapid implementation of the findings is imminent in England and Wales.

Professor Higginbottom received confirmation of her new post in December 2023 at the annual awards ceremony, held at Friends House in London.

You can find out more about the QNI and the award ceremony on the QNI webpages.