Laurel Edmunds PhD

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Dr Laurel Edmunds specialises in weight management of children and young people. She has helped families in the weight clinic at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and as part of her research career at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol. She has worked across BBC TV and Radio, ITV, Channels 4 and Five as a child weight management expert. She specialises in the experiences of overweight children, teens and their parents, with a view to improving their understanding and actions from a psychological perspective.

As an academic, she was one of the five Specialist Advisors to the House of Commons Health Committee’s inquiry into obesity and was a Co-opted Expert for the NICE guidelines. She has been the recipient of two scholarships and three prizes for her work. Laurel is currently a consultant to the Dept of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Oxford and Social Medicine, University of Bristol.

In addition to being an invited member of various child health committees, e.g. the McGill Think Tank (McGill University, Montreal) Preventing Obesity in Children and the European Childhood Obesity Group, she has participated in over 60 conference presentations, published over 25 peer-reviewed papers and several book chapters. Laurel was an author of the first national ‘guidelines’ for child weight management and her latest book has just been published by Cambridge University Press. She is working as an independent researcher and exploring the potential of positive psychology in weight management.

Academic Activities
Advisory

  • Department of Health’s Strategy into Action (Obesity Prevention)
  • Specialist Advisor – (one of five to the) House of Commons, Health Select Committee Inquiry into Obesity.
  • Co-opted Expert to the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines development groups for prevention and treatment of obesity.
  • Economic and Social Research Council for their new lifestyle research programme.
Research

  • Publications include:
  • Management of Childhood Obesity, Elizabeth Poskitt and Laurel Edmunds, 2008. Cambridge University Press.
  • Edmunds LD. The social implications of overweight and obesity in children. Journal for Specialists in Paediatric Nursing, 2008,
  • Edmunds L. Psychosocial aspects of childhood overweight. Cardio-metabolic Risk and Weight Management, 2006, 1: 9-12.
  • Edmunds L. What’s it like being the parent of an overweight child? In N Cameron, NG Norgan, GTH Ellison (Eds.) Childhood obesity – Contemporary Issues, 2006 (pp 65-80), CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, Florida.
  • Summerbell CD, Waters E, Edmunds LD, Kelly S, Brown T, Campbell K. Interventions for preventing obesity in children (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2005. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  • Edmunds LD. Parents’ perceptions of health professionals’ responses when seeking help for their overweight children. Family Practice, 2005, 22: 287–292.
  • Summerbell CD, Waters E, Edmunds L, Ashton V, Campbell KJ, Kelly S. Interventions for treating obesity in children (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 1, 2003. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  • Gibson P, Edmunds L, Haslam D, Poskett E. An Approach to Weight Management in Children and Adolescents (2-18 years) in Primary Care, RCPCH, 2002, DoH. (Guidelines sent to all GPs and paediatricians across England and Wales)
  •       Peer reviewer for proposals and papers for a number of journals including the following:
  • ·         Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
  • ·         BMA, Developing Patient Partnerships
  • ·         BMJ, and BMJ Public Health website
  • ·         British Nutrition Journal Public Health Nutrition
  • ·         Child: Care, Health and Development      
  • ·         Diabetes UK
  • ·         Family Practice
  • ·         Health Education Research
  • ·         International Journal of Obesity
  • ·         International Journal of Paediatric Obesity
  • ·         Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics
  • ·         Journal of the American College of Nutrition
  • ·         Journal of Child Health Care
  • ·         Postgraduate Medical Journal
Invited Memberships

  • ·     McGill Think Tank (McGill University, Montreal) Preventing Obesity in Children.
  • ·     Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Research Group on obesity.
  • ·     National Obesity Forum’s All Party Parliamentary Group in the House of Commons on Obesity.
  • ·     International Obesity Task Force Childhood Obesity Group covering the psycho-social effects of childhood obesity, and reviewing prevention strategies.
  • ·     Authoring advice for parents displayed on the European Union Childhood Obesity website:- http://www.childhood-obesity.org.
  • ·     European Childhood Obesity Group.

Academic Activities
Advisory

  • Department of Health’s Strategy into Action (Obesity Prevention)
  • Specialist Advisor – (one of five to the) House of Commons, Health Select Committee Inquiry into Obesity.
  • Co-opted Expert to the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines development groups for prevention and treatment of obesity.
  • Economic and Social Research Council for their new lifestyle research programme.
Research

  • Publications include:
  • Management of Childhood Obesity, Elizabeth Poskitt and Laurel Edmunds, 2008. Cambridge University Press.
  • Edmunds LD. The social implications of overweight and obesity in children. Journal for Specialists in Paediatric Nursing, 2008,
  • Edmunds L. Psychosocial aspects of childhood overweight. Cardio-metabolic Risk and Weight Management, 2006, 1: 9-12.
  • Edmunds L. What’s it like being the parent of an overweight child? In N Cameron, NG Norgan, GTH Ellison (Eds.) Childhood obesity – Contemporary Issues, 2006 (pp 65-80), CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, Florida.
  • Summerbell CD, Waters E, Edmunds LD, Kelly S, Brown T, Campbell K. Interventions for preventing obesity in children (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2005. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  • Edmunds LD. Parents’ perceptions of health professionals’ responses when seeking help for their overweight children. Family Practice, 2005, 22: 287–292.
  • Summerbell CD, Waters E, Edmunds L, Ashton V, Campbell KJ, Kelly S. Interventions for treating obesity in children (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 1, 2003. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  • Gibson P, Edmunds L, Haslam D, Poskett E. An Approach to Weight Management in Children and Adolescents (2-18 years) in Primary Care, RCPCH, 2002, DoH. (Guidelines sent to all GPs and paediatricians across England and Wales)
  •       Peer reviewer for proposals and papers for a number of journals including the following:
  • Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
  • ·         BMA, Developing Patient Partnerships
  • ·         BMJ, and BMJ Public Health website
  • ·         British Nutrition Journal Public Health Nutrition
  • ·         Child: Care, Health and Development      
  • ·         Diabetes UK
  • ·         Family Practice
  • ·         Health Education Research
  • ·         International Journal of Obesity
  • ·         International Journal of Paediatric Obesity
  • ·         Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics
  • ·         Journal of the American College of Nutrition
  • ·         Journal of Child Health Care
  • ·         Postgraduate Medical Journal
Invited Memberships

  • ·     McGill Think Tank (McGill University, Montreal) Preventing Obesity in Children.
  • ·     Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Research Group on obesity.
  • ·     National Obesity Forum’s All Party Parliamentary Group in the House of Commons on Obesity.
  • ·     International Obesity Task Force Childhood Obesity Group covering the psycho-social effects of childhood obesity, and reviewing prevention strategies.
  • ·     Authoring advice for parents displayed on the European Union Childhood Obesity website:- http://www.childhood-obesity.org.
  • ·     European Childhood Obesity Group.
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