Professor Penny Cook

Penny Cook is Professor of Public Health at the University of Salford. She researches in alcohol harm and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). She is currently funded by the Medical Research Council to develop a parenting intervention for families affected by FASD and is leading a study into the prevalence of FASD on behalf of Greater Manchester. She leads an NIHR-funded evaluation of a ‘community alcohol health champions’ project, CICA, which is looking at how the communities can support each other with alcohol advice and whether communities can influence local alcohol licensing decisions. Previous research on alcohol harm has included ‘the Big Drink Debate’, an investigation of the public’s attitude to alcohol that attracted the opinions of nearly 30,000 people and screening for alcohol-related liver disease in workplaces using non-invasive blood tests.  Research in other areas of public health include health inequalities, sexual health, physical activity and the health benefits of greenspace. Penny is a co-investigator on the NERC-funded Green infrastructure and the Health and wellbeing Influences on an Ageing population (GHIA) project. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal papers, three books and more than 80 reports, and has been a co-applicant on £4m worth of funding since 2005. She teaches on the Epidemiology and Statistics for Public Health module on the Masters in Public Health programme at Salford University. Follow her on Twitter @profpennycook

Contact: p.a.cook@salford.ac.uk

Selected Publications:

• Prior, F., Coffey, M., Robins, A., & Cook, P. A. (2019). Long-term health outcomes associated with an exercise referral scheme: an observational longitudinal follow-up study. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 16(4), 288-293.
• Cook P.A., Howarth M., Wheater C.P. (2019) Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change: Implications for Public Health. In: Marselle M., Stadler J., Korn H., Irvine K., Bonn A. (eds) Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change. Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-02318-8
• Mukherjee, R.A.S., Cook, P.A., Norgate, S.H., Price, A.D., (2018) Neurodevelopmental outcomes in individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) with and without exposure to neglect: Clinical cohort data from a national FASD diagnostic clinic. Alcohol 76:23-28. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcohol.2018.06.002
• Dennis, M., Barlow, D. G. Cavan, Cook, P. A.,  Gilchrist A., Handley J., James P., Thompson J., Tzoulas K., Wheater P. and Lindley S. (2018). Mapping Urban Green Infrastructure: A Novel Landscape-Based Approach to Incorporating Land Use and Land Cover in the Mapping of Human-Dominated Systems. Land 7(1): 17.
• Cook, P. A., C. Hargreaves, E. J. Burns, F. de Vocht, S. Parrott, M. Coffey, S. Audrey, C. Ure, P. Duffy, D. Ottiwell, K. Kenth, S. Hare and K. Ardern (2018). Communities in charge of alcohol (CICA): a protocol for a stepped-wedge randomised control trial of an alcohol health champions programme. BMC Public Health 18(1): 522
• Price, A., Cook, P.A., Norgate, S. and Mukherjee, R., 2017. Prenatal alcohol exposure and traumatic childhood experiences: A systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 80:89-98.
• Cook, P.A., Morleo, M., Billington, D.,  Sanderson-Shortt, K., Jones, C., Gabbay, M., Sheron, N., Bellis, M., Phillips-Howard, P. & Gilmore, I. (2015), ‘Evaluation of work-based screening for early signs of alcohol-related liver disease in hazardous and harmful drinkers: the PrevAIL study’, BMC Public Health, 15(352).
• Olsen, J R & Cook, P.A. & Forster, S & Phillips-Howard, P A 2012, Accessibility of sexual health services in teenage sexual health service users: local area geospatial analysis, Journal of Public Health, 34 (3), pp.438-446
• Morleo, M., Woolfall, K., Dedman, D., Mukherjee, R., Bellis, M.A., Cook, P.A., (2011) Under-reporting of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders: an analysis of hospital episode statistics. – BMC Pediatrics. 11 :14
• Morleo, M., Cook, P.A., Bellis, M.A., Smallthwaite, L.,E: (2010) Use of fake identification to purchase alcohol amongst 15-16 year olds: a cross-sectional survey examining alcohol access, consumption and harm – Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2010. 5 :12
• Zhang, X., Cook, P.A., Lisboa, P., Jarman, I., & and Bellis, M.A. (2013) The effects of deprivation and relative deprivation on self-reported morbidity in England: an area-level ecological study. International Journal of Health Geographics, 12(5)
• Downing, J., Cook, P.A., Madden, H.C.E., Phillips-Howard, P.A., Higgins, S.P., Bellis, M.A., (2010) Management of cases testing positive for gonococcal infection in a community-based chlamydia screening programme – Sexually Transmitted Infections. 86 :474-477
• Cook, P.A., Harkins, C., Morleo, M, Jarman I, Tiffany C, Bellis, M.A., Zhang  X, Perkins, C., Phillips-Howard, P.A. (2010) Contributions of Alcohol Use to Teenage Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates, Liverpool John Moores University. Report for the Department of Health. www.cph.org.uk/showPublication.aspx?pubid=709
• Phillips-Howard, P.A., Bellis, M.A., Briant, L.B., Jones, H., Downing, J., Kelly, I.E., Bird, T., Cook, P.A., (2010) Wellbeing, alcohol use and sexual activity in young teenagers: findings from a cross-sectional survey in school children in North West England. – Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy. 5 :27
• Bellis M.A, Phillips-Howard P.A., Hughes K., Hughes S, Cook P.A., Morleo M., Hannon K., Smallthwaite L., Jones L., (2009) Teenage drinking, alcohol availability and pricing: a cross-sectional study of risk and protective factors for alcohol-related harms in school children – BMC Public Health. 9 :380