Rose Burns

Dr. Rose Burns is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health and Development at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Faculty of Public Health and Policy. She joined the department in 2019 and serves as a social scientist for the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST), a partnership between the UK Health Security Agency and LSHTM focused on outbreak response, research, and capacity strengthening to prevent and control epidemics globally.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (2020-2025)
• MPH from University of Melbourne
• Honours degree from La Trobe University
• BA from La Trobe University

Dr. Burns' research examines how health systems respond to violence against women during outbreaks, with particular focus on Sierra Leone during Ebola and COVID-19. Her work bridges social science perspectives with public health practice, investigating community engagement in vaccine deployment and health service responses during emergencies. She employs qualitative methodologies to explore complex health system challenges across multiple countries including Sierra Leone, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent themes in epidemic response, gender-based violence during health crises, and HIV care pathways in humanitarian contexts. Her work demonstrates how outbreaks disproportionately affect vulnerable populations and how health systems can be strengthened through community engagement and gender-sensitive approaches.

Dr. Burns teaches on the Health Systems and Principles of Social Research modules at LSHTM. Her field experience includes working since 2009 in the NGO sector, with several years based in East Africa with Médecins Sans Frontières/Epicentre conducting social science research on HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence.

She has contributed to major projects including the Pulse project on community-led vaccine deployment strategies and the social science components of Ebola vaccine trials (EBOVAC3 and PREVAC-UP), with research spanning Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, DRC, and Mali.