Professional background

After studying medicine at Oxford University and St Mary's Hospital Medical School, Joanna spent her paediatric training in St Mary's, Great Ormond Street, the Whittington, the Royal London and University College London Hospitals (UCLH). Her specialist training was in paediatric oncology, and she did several years of research looking at PET-CT scanning in paediatric cancers. Her work included collaborations to establish national and international guidelines for PET-CT in children.

After six months as a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH), Joanna returned to general paediatrics at UCLH, developing her interests in child safeguarding and adolescent medicine. She runs a general adolescent medicine service with a large multidisciplinary team, looking after young people with varied and complex illnesses. She is a trustee of the NSPCC and a Governor at The Children’s Hospital School - a school at both GOSH and UCLH that offers teaching and learning to patients throughout the care they receive. 

She has previously worked at the Lighthouse and is now also working at GOSH with the Perplexing Presentation Support Service. She is the clinical director of the new NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Service (London).
 

Research interests

  • Specialist Child Safeguarding for complex cases
  • Complex presentations in Adolescents

Publications

  • Gorny M, Blackstock S, Bhaskaran A, Layther I, Qoba M, Vassar C, Ellis J, Begent J, Forrester J, Goldin J, Hallet Z, Read T, Hodges S, Groszmann M, Hudson LD Working together better for mental health in children and young people during a pandemic: experiences from North Central London during the first wave of COVID-19. BMJ Paediatr Open. 2021 Oct 7;5(1)
  • Stauss J, Franzius C, Pfluger T, Juergens KU, Biassoni L, Begent J, Kluge R, Amthauer H, Voelker T, Højgaard L, Barrington S, Hain S, Lynch T, Hahn K; European Association of Nuclear Medicine. Guidelines for 18F-FDG PET and PET-CT imaging in paediatric oncology. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2008 Aug;35(8):1581-8.
  • Barrington SF, Begent J, Lynch T, Schleyer P, Biassoni L, Ramsden W, Kane T, Stoneham S, Brooks M, Hain SF. Guidelines for the use of PET-CT in children. Nucl Med Commun. 2008 May;29(5):418-24.
  • Owens CM, Brisse HJ, Olsen ØE, Begent J, Smets AM. Bilateral disease and new trends in Wilms tumour. Pediatr Radiol. 2008 Jan;38(1):30-9.
  • Gibson F, Cargill J, Allison J, Begent J, Cole S, Stone J, Lucas V. Establishing content validity of the oral assessment guide in children and young people. Eur J Cancer. 2006 Aug;42(12):1817-25.
  • De Bernardi B, Balwierz W, Bejent J, Cohn SL, Garrè ML, Iehara T, Plantaz D, Simon T, Angelini P, Cama A, London WB, Kramer K, Katzenstein HM, Tortori-Donati P, Rossi A, D'Angio GJ, Evans AE. Epidural compression in neuroblastoma: Diagnostic and therapeutic aspects. Cancer Lett. 2005 Oct 18;228(1-2):283-99.
  • Sury MR, Harker H, Begent J, Chong WK. The management of infants and children for painless imaging. Clin Radiol. 2005 Jul;60(7):731-41. Review.
  • Boztug K, Kiely E, Roebuck DJ, Gaze M, Begent J, Brock P, Michalski A.  Successful treatment of MYCN amplified, progressive stage 4S neuroblastoma in a neonate with hepatic artery embolization in addition to multimodality treatment. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2006 Feb;46(2):253-7.
  • Roberts G, Newsom D, Gomez K, Raffles A, Saglani S, Begent J, Lachman P, Sloper K, Buchdahl R, Habel A; North West Thames Asthma Study Group.  Intravenous salbutamol bolus compared with an aminophylline infusion in children with severe asthma: a randomised controlled trial. Thorax. 2003 Apr;58(4):306-10.