Gina Higginbottom


Gina Marie Higginbottom is a British academic, nurse, midwife, health visitor and a specialist in international migration and maternity. She is the first nurse of black and minority ethnic origin to hold a professorial role in a Russell Group university in England.

Personal life and education

Higginbottom was born in Sheffield and is of white British and Ghanaian origin (Ga-Mashie, Jamestown, Accra. She is via her maternal family a descendant of the historic Bagley family. Edward Bagley of Dudley, executed the will of Lady Barnham, granddaughter of William Shakespeare She passed the eleven plus examination and attended King Ecgbert Technical Grammar School for Girls. Her cousin is Richard Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire and her brother in Law Martin Fry of ABC. She gained her PhD co-supervised by Prof James Nazroo at the University of Sheffield in 2004. Higginbottom was the first BME nurse to be awarded a National Primary Care Fellowship.

Career

From 2007 to 2015 Higginbottom held a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Ethnicity and Health at the University of Alberta. She is the first woman of BME origin to hold a Canada Research Chair.
Higginbottom was appointed in 2015 as the Mary Seacole Professor of Ethnicity and Community Health at the University of Nottingham. As of 2019, she is now Emeritus Professor. She was ethnicity and health advisor, co-author of the critical research study on the Apgar score and other neonatal tests and infants with darker skin which challenged existing approaches to neonatal assessment.
She is Co-Convener of International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research, a charity and professional organisation. She is also a member of the Chief Nurse for England's Black Minority Ethnic Advisory Group. In 2019 she became a vice-president of the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, a professional organisation and trade union for nurses, together with Sara Rowbotham.

Honours

Higginbottom was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 1998 for services to health promotion and young people.

Selected works

  • Soltani H, Fair R, Higginbottom GMA, & Puntis, S Inclusive assessments for newborns Community Practitioner Nov/Dec 2023
  • Fair R, Furness A, Higginbottom GMA, Oddie B & Solani R Review of neonatal assessment and practice in Black, Asian and minority ethnic newborns: exploring the Apgar score, the detection-of cyanosis and jaundice. NHS Race and Health Observatory
  • Sobranie S, Cox G, Miller S, Higginbottom GMA Optimising the activities and the products of academic and student collaborative networks to achieve equality, diversity. Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, Vol 7, No 1, 2021
  • Higginbottom GMA, Evans C, Morgan M, Bharj K K, Eldridge J and Hussain B Interventions that improve maternity care for immigrant women in England: a narrative synthesis systematic review Health Serv Deliv Res 2020:03 DOI:10.3310/hsdr08140
  • Higginbottom GMA, Evans C, Morgan M, Bharj K K, Eldridge J and Hussain B Immigrant women’s experience of maternity care services in the UK:a narrative synthesis review BMJ Open DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029478
  • Higginbottom GMA, Vallianatos H, Shankar J, Safipour J and Davey C,. Ethnicity and Health.
  • Higginbottom, G, Evans, C, Morgan, M, Bharj, K, Eldridge, J and Hussain, B,. BMJ Open. 7, e016988
  • Evans, C, Tweheyo, R, Mcgarry, J, Eldridge, J, Mccormick, C, Nkoyo, V and Higginbottom, G,., BMJ Open. 7,
  • Higginbottom GMA, Safipour J, O'brien B, Mumtaz Z, Paton P, Chiu Y and Barolia R,. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Higginbottom GMA, Reime, B, Bharj K K, Chowbey P, Ertan K, Foster C, Friedrich K, Gerrish K, Kentenich H, Mumtaz Z and O'brien B,.. Health Care for Women International. 34, 936-965
  • Higginbottom GMA, Morgan M, O'Mahoney M, Chiu Y, Kocay D, Alexandre M and Fogeron J,. . Systematic Reviews. 65
  • Higginbottom GMA, Safipour J, Mumtaz Z, Patton P and Chiu Y,. "I have to do what I believe": Sudanese women’s belief and resistance to hegemonic practices at home and during experiences of maternity care in Canada. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 51
  • Salway S, Barley R, Allmark P, Gerrish K, Higginbottom GMA and Ellison G. . Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
  • Higginbottom, GMA and Serrant-Green,L. "". The ''Qualitative Report. 10 : 662–686. ISSN 1052-0147.
  • Higginbottom GMA, Marsh P, Kirkham M, Owen Jm.Gma, Mathers N.. "Young people of minority ethnic origin in England and early parenthood: views from young parents and service providers". Social Science & Medicine''. 63 : 858–870. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.03.011