Rate My Professor Snehal Pinto Pereira

Professor Snehal Pinto Pereira is a Professor of Population Health and Applied Statistics in the Department of Targeted Intervention, UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University College London. She earned a BSc (Hons) in Actuarial Sciences, an MSc in Medical Statistics, and a PhD in Epidemiology. As a statistical epidemiologist, her career includes prior work at the UCL Institute of Child Health, where she investigated lifetime influences on adiposity and physical activity trajectories, their health consequences, and long-term effects of early-life adversity. She held a Medical Research Council (MRC) Career Development Award from 2017 to 2023 and is recognized as an MRC Senior Non-Clinical Fellow. Recently promoted to her current professorial position, she also serves as Divisional Athena Swan Co-Chair.

Pereira's research addresses public health priorities across three complementary remits: leading MRC-funded projects on obesity, physical activity, strength, and ageing; examining pathways linking specific child maltreatments to adult outcomes; and contributing to the nationally funded Children and Young People with Long Covid (CLoCk) study, which characterizes the clinical phenotype and prevalence of post-COVID symptoms in children and young people. Her methodological approach leverages existing data resources effectively. Key publications include 'Effect of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on planned cancer surgery for 15 tumour types in 61 countries' in The Lancet Oncology (2021), 'Timing of surgery following SARS-CoV-2 infection' in Anaesthesia (2021), 'Long COVID (post-COVID-19 condition) in children: a modified Delphi process' in Archives of Disease in Childhood (2022), 'Sedentary behaviour and biomarkers for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in mid-life' in PLoS One (2012), and 'Depressive symptoms and physical activity during 3 decades in adult life' in JAMA Psychiatry (2014). Her contributions have impacted policy through evidence provided to SAGE during the COVID pandemic, co-authorship of four reports for the UK Department of Health and Social Care, and citations in governmental and charity documents such as NIHR’s Moving Matters review (2019). She disseminates findings via blogposts and podcasts.