Research Professor and Group Leader

Population Health Interventions

 

Dr Jenna Panter is a public health researcher whose work seeks to understand how, why, for whom and under what circumstances physical and policy changes to the environment improve population health. She investigates the pathways through which population-level interventions influence health-related behaviours, how these vary across different contexts, and which findings can be transferred between places to inform policy. Her research combines epidemiology, natural experiments, qualitative research, including realist and systems thinking perspectives, and evidence synthesis to generate actionable evidence for healthier, more equitable and environmentally sustainable communities.

Jenna studied Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (BSc, 2005; PhD, 2010) and joined the MRC Epidemiology Unit as a postdoctoral researcher in 2010 and won a personal NIHR post-doctoral fellowship (2013 to 2015). Her research is now supported by a prestigious NIHR Population Health Career Scientist Award  (PHSCA). She is also a Co-Investigator on the MRC-funded PHOENIX programme, led by Professor David Ogilvie, and Lead Principal Investigator for the Cambridge node of the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR).

Her research spans active travel, healthy urban environments, transport and public health, with the aim of generating evidence that helps policymakers design more effective and equitable population health interventions.

Research funding

• NIHR Population Health Career Scientist Award: Changing local transport systems to improve health: if it works in Cambridge or Coventry will it work elsewhere?
  PI | NIHR | Total award: £1.13M | Sept 2025–Aug 2030
• Mechanisms for population strategies to prevent diet- and activity-related chronic disease (PHOENIX)
  Co-I | MRC | Total award: £2.40M | Apr 2026–Sept 2030
• HD4 – Health-driven design for cities
  Co-I | National Research Foundation Singapore | Total award: £7.51M | Sept 2024–Feb 2027

Teaching and academic service

• Member, Admissions Committee, MPhil in Population Health Sciences (2022–present); lecturer on the Changing Behaviour module, MPhil in Public Health (2021–present).
• Examiner for the MPhil in Population Health Sciences and PhD examinations (Cambridge and external); primary and co-supervisor for eight completed PhD students.
• Peer reviewer for leading public health, epidemiology and transport journals, and reviewer of funding applications for the NIHR, MRC and other international funders.

 Selected publications

• Patterson R, Carey EG, Garrott K, Huang Y, Ogilvie D, van Sluijs EMF, Panter J, et al. Effectiveness and equity impacts of traffic restriction schemes outside schools: a controlled natural experimental study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2025. doi:10.1186/s12966-025-01858-w.
• Xiao C, Sinclair N, Saunders L, Panter J. Evaluating the impact of low traffic neighbourhoods in areas with low car ownership: a natural experimental evaluation. Journal of Transport & Health. 2023;33:101658.
• Peng J, Yu C, Remais JV, et al. Spatial lifecourse epidemiology reporting standards (ISLE-ReSt) statement. Health & Place. 2020;61:102243.
• Panter J, et al. Can changing the physical environment promote walking and cycling? A systematic review of what works and how. Health & Place. 2019;58:102161.
• Panter J et al. Using alternatives to the car and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality. Heart. 2018.
• Panter J, Ogilvie D. Can environmental improvement change the population distribution of walking? Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 2017.
• Panter J et al. Impact of new transport infrastructure on walking, cycling and physical activity. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2016;50–e53.
• Mytton O, Panter J, Ogilvie D. Longitudinal associations of active commuting with wellbeing and sickness absence. Preventive Medicine. 2016;84:19–26.
• Panter JR, Jones AP, van Sluijs EMF. Environmental determinants of active travel in children: a review and framework for future research. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2008;5:34.