Dr Rachael Wood
Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Honorary Reader

Address
- Street
-
Public Health Scotland
Gyle Square
1 South Gyle Crescent - City
- Post code
- EH12 9EB
Background
Dr Wood works across the NHS and the University of Edinburgh. Within the NHS, Dr Wood is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine in Public Health Scotland. Within the University, she is an Honorary Reader in the Usher Institute.
Within Public Health Scotland, Dr Wood focuses on maternal and child health, and is inaugural director of Scotland's national congenital anomaly register (CARDRISS). Her role involves development of national data, overseeing national statistics publications, providing information to support health policy and service development and evaluation, and supporting the use of Public Health Scotland data for research purposes.
Within the University, Dr Wood conducts research on maternal and child public health. She has particular topic interests in congenital anomalies and child development. She has particular methodological interests in the use of routine administrative data for research.
Prior to her current roles, Dr Wood held a CSO Clinical Academic Training Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh from 2007 to 2011. During her fellowship she undertook a PhD examining changes made to Scotland’s child health programme in 2005. Dr Wood graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1993.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Science, University of Edinburgh
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, University of Edinburgh
Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, DTM&H
Diploma in Child Health, DCH
Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Master of Public Health, University of Glasgow
Membership of the Faculty of Public Health, MFPH
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Edinburgh. Changing child health surveillance in Scotland: an exploration of the impact on preventive health care of pre-school children.
Responsibilities & affiliations
Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health
Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Research summary
Dr Wood’s research focuses on maternal and child public health. She has particular topic interests in congenital anomalies and child development. She has particular methodological interests in the use of routine administrative data for research.
Affiliated research centres
Research activities
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Neonatal mortality risk for vulnerable newborn types in 15 countries using 125.5 million nationwide birth outcome records, 2000 to 2020
In:
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17506
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Vulnerable newborn types: Analysis of population-based registries for 165 million births in 23 countries, 2000 to 2021
In:
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17505
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Identifying opportunities for upstream evaluations relevant to child and maternal health: a UK policy-mapping review
In:
Archives of Disease in Childhood
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2022-325219
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Consortium for the Study of Pregnancy Treatments (Co-OPT): An international birth cohort to study the effects of antenatal corticosteroids
(27 pages)
In:
PLoS ONE, vol. 18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282477
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Changes in preterm birth and stillbirth during COVID-19 lockdowns in 26 countries
In:
Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 7, pp. 529-544
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01522-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)