About Professor Floor Christie-de Jong
I'm the public health lead in our School of Medicine, with a focus on embedding public health and equity across medical education.
I work in public health research focused on reducing health inequalities through community-centred and participatory approaches. My work centres on early diagnosis, cancer screening, and access to preventive healthcare for underserved and ethnically minoritised communities.
I lead NIHR and charity-funded research, designing and evaluating complex interventions in partnership with communities. My research particularly focuses on cancer screening and early diagnosis (including breast, cervical, bowel, and prostate cancer), with a strong emphasis on feasibility, acceptability, and real-world implementation.
I am Theme Co-Lead: Prevention including Multiple Long Term Conditions, NIHR ARC North East & North Cumbria(opens in new tab), Associate Director for Sunderland for Fuse(opens in new tab), the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, a member of the Mixed Methods International Research Association, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health.
Teaching and supervision
I act as the Public Health Lead throughout Phase 1 of the undergraduate MBChB Medicine.
I've been teaching in higher education for almost 20 years. I've taught multiple courses in public health prior to this role, at national and international universities.
I've supervised many international and national students in their public health research at BSc, MSc, and PhD levels. I've always enjoyed supervising students and find it a privilege to be part of their learning journey.
Interests
My research interests are cancer screening, ethnicity, culture and health, migrant health, health inequalities and health literacy.
Public health is so broad, and I feel passionate about many public health topics. I have supervised students with many different topics ranging from cancer screening, HPV vaccination, healthcare access for migrants, exclusive breastfeeding, perspectives on management of Type 2 diabetes, sexual and reproductive health, healthy eating, and many more.
I am always happy to discuss potential PhD projects; however, I have limited capacity and therefore particularly welcome applications from PhD students in the area of health inequalities and cancer screening.
Research
My research includes:
- Principal Investigator with co-Leads Moses Apiliga and Prof Katie Robb, University of Glasgow, for a study funded by Prostate Cancer Research: 'A mixed-methods, two-arm, multi-centre randomised controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of a co-produced, peer-led intervention for encouraging early diagnosis of PROstate CANcer for Black men: the PROCAN-B+ study’. £499,245.50 (2026–2028).
- Chief Investigator with co-lead Prof Judith Eberhardt, Teesside University, for a study funded by NIHR: EQUITy in Black Adult health (EQUITA)- a randomised feasibility trial of a co-produced and faith-placed intervention to increase uptake of breast, cervical, bowel, and AAA screening in the north-east of England, Leeds and Scotland. £618,053.53 (2025–2027).
- Principal Investigator with co-Lead Professor Katie Robb, University of Glasgow, for a study funded by Cancer Research UK titled: 'Improving uptake of breast, bowel and cervical cancer screening among Muslim women: a non-randomised feasibility study of a peer-led, faith-based intervention'. £337,485.40 (2023–2026).
- Principal Investigator for a study funded by Prostate Cancer Research titled 'A co-designed and culturally appropriate intervention to tackle barriers to early diagnosis of prostate cancer for Black men in Scotland and the North-East of England: a community-centred participatory approach'. £157,688 (2022–2024).
- Co-Lead Health Literacy projects in collaboration with the Health Literacy team at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (2023–2025).
- Principal Investigator for a study funded by The Scottish Government titled 'A Faith-based intervention for Muslim women in Scotland to encourage uptake of breast, bowel and cervical cancer screening: A community-based participatory approach'. £53,999.20 (2021).
- Principal Investigator for an NIHR ARC-funded study titled 'The impact of an interactive film-based intervention on resilience, mental wellbeing and help-seeking attitudes in young people (14–18) at school settings in Cumbria and the North East of England: a mixed methods cluster randomised controlled feasibility trial'. £58,034.00 (2021–2023).
Areas of expertise
- Health inequalities
- Cancer screening
- Culture
- Ethnicity
- Migrant health
- Mixed methods research.