Natasha is an NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) clinical doctoral research fellow. Her PhD fellowship, investigating infant feeding in the context of severe mental illness is supervised by Dr Ioannis Bakolis and Dr Claire Wilson.

Natasha completed her midwifery training in 2012 at the University of Hertfordshire, going on to study a Masters of Research (MRes) at St George's University of London in 2017 where she carried out a qualitative study exploring midwives’ perceptions of assessing mental health during pregnancy. Over the course of her career, she has worked at a number of NHS Trusts, providing clinical maternity care, but before joining King’s College London she was a senior clinical research midwife at the University College London Hospital.

Natasha first joined the Section of Women’s Mental Health in 2019 after being awarded an NIHR pre-doctoral fellowship. During that time Natasha worked with Professor Howard on data from the Effectiveness of Services for Mothers with Mental Illness (ESMI) study, to investigate the infant feeding support needs of women with severe mental illness.

Research Interests 

• Women’s mental health 
• The transition to parenthood for women with severe mental illness 
• Infant feeding and mental health 

Key publications

• Baker N, Potts L, Jennings S, Trevillion K, Howard LM, Baker N. Factors Affecting Infant Feeding Practices Among Women With Severe Mental Illness. Frontiers in Global Women's Health. 2021;2(April):1–11. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2021.624485
• Baker MN, Gillman ML, Coxon DK. Assessing mental health during pregnancy: an exploratory qualitative study of midwives’ perceptions. Midwifery. 2020;86:102690. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2020.102690
• Baker, N., Bick, D., Bamber, L., Wilson, C. A., Howard, L. M., Bakolis, I., Soukup, T., & Chang, Y. S. (2023). A mixed methods systematic review exploring infant feeding experiences and support in women with severe mental illness. Maternal & child nutrition, 19(4), e13538. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13538