Dr. Sharon Neufeld is a Wellcome Trust Fellow at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Psychiatry. Her work seeks to understand mental health treatment effectiveness in children and young people using real-world data by harnessing existing cohort studies, surveys, and linked administrative data. Sharon’s research team assesses outcomes ranging from symptoms (e.g. depression, distress, self-harm) to functioning (e.g family support, educational attainment and absence). Her team looks at how outcomes differ in those who have engaged with mental health services compared with those who did not, why outcomes might differ, and which groups might find services less effective. The goal of this work is to guide clinicians and policymakers on how to improve children and young people’s mental health services.
Sharon’s team is also interested more broadly in understanding how and why symptoms change over development, to guide prevention and intervention strategies. Having published widely in psychiatry and psychology journals, Sharon supervises her team on analyses of longitudinal datasets using statistical techniques such as latent growth curve modelling, causal interference, factor modelling, and network analyses.