Rachel Churchill 

Professor in Evidence Synthesis within Centre of Review and Dissemination (CDR) at the University of York. A psychiatric epidemiologist and mental health services researcher, dedicated to improving healthcare decision-making with people experiencing mental health problems. She also works in methodological development (design, conduct, reporting and implementation of evidence synthesis), as well as knowledge translation and mobilisation. Her research interests include evaluating the effectiveness of a range of interventions, particularly psychological therapies, for people with mental health problems. Over the last 25 years, she has worked at the interface between research and policy to ensure that evidence informs policy and practice. She has been a Clinical Evidence Specialist at the Center for Evidence-based Policy at Oregon Health and Science University in the USA and has established clinical question-answering and knowledge translation services in the UK and in several other countries. She was Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Group (CCMD), leading the group for 25 years. She was an elected member of the Cochrane Steering Group, the Board of Trustees of Cochrane, for two terms, Co-Chaired the Cochrane Knowledge Translation Strategy Group, was a member of the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Programme Advisory Group for three terms, and has been a Standing Member of a NICE Guideline Updating Committee. She is currently the Director of the NIHR York Evidence Synthesis Group which responds to the policy and decision-making needs of NICE, NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and related commissioners. She leads the Mental Health theme within Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) at the University of York and has established a Youth Mental Health Evidence Synthesis Hub within CRD. (Updated Feb-24)