London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

After 10 years of service, Professor Joy Lawn has stepped down as the Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive & Child Health (MARCH) Centre co-Director. We sincerely thank Joy for her hard work developing MARCH into a world-leading research centre focused on women's, children’s and adolescents’ health, and wish her well. Joy will remain an active member of MARCH and remain at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Joy said: “MARCH focuses on next generation research and especially next generation leadership. Over the last decade it has been a deep privilege to serve as Director, then Co-director, with an energetic truly inter-disciplinary team, tripling in membership size, and many wonderful students and staff. I look forward to cheering you all forward in the next decade!”

Professor Debra Jackson has moved into the co-Director role following two years as Deputy Director and joins Professor Susannah Mayhew to co-lead the Centre.   

We are delighted to announce that Professor Rebecca Sear has been appointed as Deputy Director. Rebecca is a Professor in the Population Studies Group within the Department of Population Health at LSHTM and a long-standing MARCH member. Her research interests include family, fertility, child health and improving research integrity.

Rebecca said: “This is such a great time to be joining the MARCH team. Joy has left the Centre in a fantastic place, after a decade of leadership, and I’m really looking forward to working with Debra and Susie and the rest of the team as MARCH moves into its next exciting life stage. MARCH provides a great opportunity to help support researchers at LSHTM to achieve their full potential, and I’m happy I’ll be able to contribute to this important goal.”