Professor Elizabeth McDermott

LGBTQ+ Expert Advisory Group

Professor Elizabeth McDermott [She/her]

Elizabeth McDermott is a Professor of Health Inequality in the Faculty of Health & Medicine at Lancaster University. She is a public health specialist in young people’s mental health. Her research is focussed upon explaining why there are inequalities in young people’s mental health, and unravelling the mechanisms by which poor mental health is distributed unfairly across the adolescent and young adult population.

Over the last two decades this research has concentrated on understanding why LGBTQ+ young people have elevated rates of poor mental health. As Chief Investigator, she has completed numerous studies investigating LGBTQ+ youth mental health and advises various UK Government departments on national policies which attempt to tackle this inequality. Her book titled: ‘Queer Youth, Suicide and Self-Harm: Troubled Subjects, Troubling Norms’ (Palgrave Macmillan) was published in 2016.

She is currently leading the Queer Futures 2, a 3 year UK national study funded by the NIHR which identifies and evaluates early intervention mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth.