Helen qualified as a doctor in 1980. She worked in the NHS for 36 years, including 22 years as a consultant obstetrician.
As director of the Foundation Training Programme at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, UK from 2004-2014, Helen was responsible for the education and welfare of 80 junior doctors.
She is the founding chairperson of Kisiizi Partners (Registered charity 1079118) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She has a particular interest in projects which address the problem of maternal mortality in developing countries and prior to joining the staff at LSTM she travelled to a number of African and Asian countries as a faculty member and course director on the Obstetric Life Saving Skills Course run by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology International Office and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Helen joined the Department of International Public Health in December 2016. Her responsibilities include developing materials for faculty and participants for courses in Emergency obstetric and neonatal care, implementing training in various countries and programmes and conducting quality assurance. She was principal author of the manuals for the new Advanced obstetric surgical and anaesthetic skills course currently under roll-out.
Helen was course director for the Diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Health from 2019-2021 and is current convenor for the Maternal and Newborn Health Module in the Masters in International Public Health. She teaches on the Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Health and supervises MIPH students.