Otto Wolff Lecture and Catherine Peckham Symposium

Otto Wolff Lecture and Catherine Peckham Symposium - In-person event

Advancing Knowledge and Understanding of Childhood Disability

Tuesday 4th November 2025
1:30pm – 5:00pm (Drinks and Canapés reception to follow)
Kennedy Lecture Theatre, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, WC1N 1EH

Event Overview

Please join us for the Population, Policy and Practice (PPP) Research and Teaching Department’s annual Otto Wolff Lecture and Catherine Peckham Symposium, dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of childhood disability.

This event brings together leading researchers, clinicians, and experts to share insights, foster collaboration, and celebrate progress in the field.

The UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOS ICH), together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH), forms the largest concentration of children’s health research in Europe.

The Otto Wolff Lecture reflects this status by showcasing world-class clinical and scientific presentations. The event also honours one of the great GOSH/GOS ICH Clinical Professors of Paediatrics, Professor Otto Wolff, who maintained an active interest in paediatrics beyond retirement and attended many of these sessions until his death at the age of 90 in April 2010.

Programme

13:30 – Welcome and Introduction
Professor Claire Thorne

Otto Wolff Lecture

13:35 – Professor Jugnoo Rahi
Professor of Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist,
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Institute of Ophthalmology;
Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Talk: Think Vision, Think Child

Catherine Peckham Symposium

Chairs: Professor Claire Thorne, Dr Nora Trompeter

14:30 – Professor Melissa Gladstone
Professor of Neurodevelopmental Paediatrics and International Child Health (University of Liverpool)
Talk: Identifying children with disabilities where resources are limited – what can we do?
Followed by Questions

15:05 – Coffee / Tea Break

15:30 – Professor Cally Tann
Professor of Neonatal Medicine and Child Health (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Talk: Understanding and improving outcomes amongst children at risk of developmental disabilities in East Africa: experiences from Baby Ubuntu
Followed by Questions

16:05 – Showcase of Emerging Research from PPP Researchers

• Dr Rachel Knowles – Growing up with hearing loss
• Julia Shumway – Primary school enrolment patterns for children with Down syndrome: a study using linked school and hospital data from England
• Dr Pippa Rees – The CHERuB Study: Childhood Health and Educational outcomes afteR perinatal Brain injury

17:00 – Questions and Panel Discussion on Future Research Directions

Drinks and Canapés Reception

From 5:15pm – 6:45pm

Who Should Attend

• Researchers and academics in child health, disability, and development
• Clinicians and allied health professionals
• Policy makers and advocates for children’s health
• Students and trainees interested in child health and disability

Registration

This event is free but requires advance registration. Spaces are limited, so we encourage early booking.

Speakers

Professor Jugnoo Rahi

Professor of Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist
University College London – Population, Policy & Practice Research & Teaching Department
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Institute of Ophthalmology;
Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Professor Jugnoo Rahi is a clinician scientist with a track record for innovative discovery science and research translation to reduce the burden and impacts of the causes of blindness that afflict 81 million children worldwide and confer an enormous burden on affected individuals, their families, and the societies in which they live.

As the UK’s first Professor of Ophthalmic Epidemiology, she has led the establishment and development of this scientific discipline, partly by founding the Vision and Eyes Group at UCL – now an internationally leading multi-disciplinary and multi-professional group with an unusually broad scientific portfolio.

The group’s research bridges ophthalmology, paediatrics, public health, and population health sciences, addressing both the causes and consequences of rare and common eye diseases while investigating the determinants of visual health and disability. Highly cited, their research has shaped clinical care and policies internationally.

Professor Rahi has received multiple awards including the BMA’s inaugural Women in Academic Medicine Role Model award, the VISIONUK Astbury Award, and the Claud Worth Medal – the UK’s highest recognition of achievement in Paediatric Ophthalmology. She is an NIHR Senior Investigator and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Professor Melissa Gladstone

Professor of Neurodevelopmental Paediatrics and International Child Health
Department of Women and Children’s Health, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences
University of Liverpool / Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

Professor Melissa Gladstone has over 20 years’ experience researching child neurodevelopment in resource-poor environments, particularly in Africa. Her recent research focuses on how best to measure neurodevelopment in resource-limited settings and use these tools to identify early developmental challenges to better support affected children.

She has undertaken and led major field studies across Africa examining the effects of health and social factors – such as malaria in pregnancy, nutrition, prematurity, and HIV exposure – on early child development. Her work connects developmental assessment with practical interventions in low-income settings.

Professor Gladstone has written over 90 publications and holds several large grants with colleagues in Sub-Saharan Africa. She created the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT), now used in over 25 countries in Africa. She also leads work with the World Health Organization on the Global Scales of Early Development (GSED).

Professor Cally Tann

Professor of Neonatal Medicine and Child Health
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health
Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bio to follow
(See: LSHTM profile)

Hosted by the Population, Policy & Practice Research and Teaching Department, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.