London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Professor Rebecca Sear, who joined the MARCH leadership team last year as Deputy Director, now joins Professor Debra Jackson as co-Director. Rebecca is a demographer, anthropologist and behavioural scientist based in the Population Studies Group within the Department of Population Health.

Rebecca said: "MARCH has been such a success as a Centre, promoting and supporting research on its themes inside and outside LSHTM, that I was delighted to take on the role of Depuy Director last year. Over the past year, I’ve learned that MARCH’s success is due to the commitment and vision of its remarkable leadership team, and I look forward to continuing working with Debra, Aduragbemi and the rest of the team to support MARCH’s important work."

Professor Susannah Mayhew now steps down as co-Director after two years in post. We sincerely thank Susannah for her hard work and dedication in driving forward the collaborative vision of MARCH, including the development and delivery of the 2023 – 2027 MARCH strategy.

Susannah will continue to shape and influence the direction of MARCH as she continues as member of the MARCH steering committee as lead for the centre’s climate theme.

Susannah said: "It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve as a MARCH co-Director. We have such an inspiring leadership team and I am proud to have worked with them to create our new strategy and subsequent action plans. I am delighted to be able to continue with the leadership team in my role as Climate theme lead. I look forward to implementing the actions in our strategy to further the work of MARCH within LSHTM, particularly with early careers staff and with students, as well as strengthening our partnerships beyond LSHTM."

Dr Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas will now join the leadership team as the MARCH Deputy Director. Aduragbemi is an Associate Professor within the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health. His research interests cut across the Adolescents, Birth, and Children core themes of the MARCH Centre and has also done research across some of the cross-cutting themes including COVID-19 and Conflict.

Aduragbemi said: "The MARCH Centre was my window to the culture of research excellence in maternal and newborn health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine before I joined the school last year. To now have the unique opportunity to serve as the Centre’s Deputy Director is a true privilege and one that I am deeply enthralled about. I look forward to working with Prof Jackson and Prof Sear in fostering the Centre’s vision to improve women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health worldwide."