Dr Joanne Cull

I am Head of Nursing for Nurse and Midwife Led Research at ACORN (A Centre of Research for Nurses and Midwives) at GSTT. I am seconded one day a week to London South Bank University as Associate Professor. 

I currently hold a National Institute for Health and Care Research Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Award (2025–2030). Through this award, I am developing expertise in health economics and policy, while advancing my programme of research on the effects of trauma histories on maternity care providers.

I previously held a National Institute for Health Research Wellbeing of Women Doctoral Fellowship. My PhD study explored how maternity care providers can better support women with histories of trauma. The first paper from the study gained extensive coverage and was featured in over 170 newspapers and websites, reaching over 3.5 million readers. The paper was also selected as an NIHR Alert. Prior to this, I held an HEE-NIHR Pre-doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship, concentrating on respectful maternity care and staff well-being.

Before training as a midwife in 2013, I was a Chartered Accountant with ten years experience in the public and private sectors, including three years as Head of Internal Audit for a FTSE 500 company.

Key Interests:
Trauma-informed perinatal care
Domestic abuse
Maternity care provider well-being
Health and workforce policy

Education:
PhD Midwifery 
MSc Implementation and Improvement Science (Distinction)
BSc (Hons) Midwifery (First Class)
Membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance