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Staff Profile

Emeritus Professor Allan Colver

Emeritus Professor Community Child Health

  • Email: allan.colver@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: Population Health Sciences Institute
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Newcastle University
Background

Professor Colver studied Psychology at Magdalene College, Cambridge and then Medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London.

He was appointed Consultant Paediatrician with Special Interest in Community Child Health in Northumberland in 1986, occupying then only the second such post in the UK. From then to the mid 1990s he led the development of training programmes in community child health. For four years he was Medical Director of a National Health Service Community Trust. From 1997, he occupied research positions at Newcastle University and was appointed in 2007 to the Donald Court Chair of Community Child. He retired in 2017.

His earlier research included studies of child accident prevention, health surveillance of preschool children and screening. From 1999-2004 he was a member of the National Screening Committee, Child Health. In 2001 he completed a study on food allergy facilitated by the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit; and from 2005-09 was chair of its Executive Committee. Professor Colver co-founded the North of England Collaborative Cerebral Palsy Survey and established a database of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Professor Colver’s recent research was directed to:

1 2010-Present. Transition of young people with long term health conditions from child to adult health services. He coordinates a five-year Research programme   http://research.ncl.ac.uk/transition/     funded by the National Institute for Health Research.

2 2014-2017. Feasibility of trials of Use of Standing Frames  and Therapy for Eating and Swallowing Difficulties in children and young people with neurodisability - funded by the National Institute for Health Research.

3 2002-2014. Participation and Quality of Life of children and young people with cerebral palsy. . He coordinated a study (SPARCLE) across Europe of children with cerebral palsy    www.ncl.ac.uk/sparcle/    funded by the European Commission and the Wellcome Trust.

4 2014-2017. A trial of medication for drooling in children with neurodisability  funded by: The Children's Foundation, The Castang Foundation, WellChild, and The British Academy of Childhood Disability (Polani Fund).

Publications