Claire embodies our approach to healthcare. She’s a microbiome PhD, a London GP and a Breathworks Mindfulness instructor. This broad experience gives Claire a unique perspective that’s key to helping you become the expert in your own health.
Claire has specific expertise in:
- prebiotics & probiotics
- the gut microbiome
- sexual health
- contraception
- mindfulness
- burnout
- metabolic health
- gut health
- nutrition
- immunology
- scientific research
- holistic health
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Health is the key to enjoying life
Many of the people we love will die from diseases that are preventable. Some of us will not have a dignified or happy end to our lives. I want to change this. I believe it’s possible for all of us to be healthier in our day to day lives and I believe putting energy into our health is the key to enjoying life. Over the last 20 years I’ve been learning how the body works, how the mind affects the body and how our environment shapes our health. I used to think health was a combination of genetics and luck, added to the poor choices we made when we were younger. I now know that no matter your age, no matter your starting point, you can live better for longer. I want to show you how.
Claire started her career studying Veterinary Pathogenesis at the University of Bristol where she developed a fascination with gut health. After a brief stint in science publishing she started a PhD at Imperial College exploring how the immune system and metabolism are affected by probiotics and different diets. During her PhD and subsequent postdoctoral research she published several articles about gut health and metabolism in high impact journals. She won travel grants to attend several international conferences and initiated a number of productive international scientific collaborations.
Her determination to understand how to prevent disease in the real world led her to study graduate medicine at Imperial College so she could work more closely with people and understand better the lifestyle choices that lead to disease. During her medical degree she continued to publish scientific research, won a prestigious Foulke Foundation fellowship and was awarded several prizes for academic excellence.
After medical school she completed her medical training to become a general practitioner in London. During this time she completed a diploma in sexual and reproductive health, set up a dedicated contraceptive clinic at her training practice and became a mindfulness teacher. She also sat on several committees and co-founded and organised the inaugural International Cancer Microbiome Consortium event at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.
Disillusioned with the medical system and determined to give people a better option she started Selph with her life partner Alasdair Scott and business partner Nick Burnett. She is currently working as the medical director and particularly enjoys being able to continue learning about ways to live better for longer in order to share that with the Selph family.
Outside of work, Claire and Alasdair have just become parents to a gorgeous girl and are navigating the challenges of being working parents with a new business. They are both learning to play tennis and have learnt to sail over the past several years and enjoy chartering yachts in the Greek Islands. Their dream is to sail around the world together.
- International Cancer Microbiome Consortium consensus statement on the role of the human microbiome in carcinogenesis
Scott AJ, Alexander JL, Merrifield CA et al.
Gut, 2019
- Pre-, pro- and synbiotics in cancer prevention and treatment-a review of basic and clinical research
Scott AJ, Merrifield CA, Younes JA et al.
Ecancermedicalscience, 2018
- The gut microbiota elicits a profound metabolic reorientation in the mouse jejunal mucosa during conventionalisation
El Aidy S, Merrifield CA, Derrien M et al.
Gut, 2013
- A metabolic system-wide characterisation of the pig: a model for human physiology
Merrifield CA, Lewis M, Claus SP et al.
Molecular bioSystems, 2011
- Neonatal environment exerts a sustained influence on the development of the intestinal microbiota and metabolic phenotype
Merrifield CA, Lewis MC, Berger B et al.
The ISME journal, 2016
- Dominant components of the Thoroughbred metabolome characterised by (1) H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: A metabolite atlas of common biofluids
Escalona EE, Leng J, Dona AC et al.
Equine veterinary journal, 2015
- Gut bacteria-host metabolic interplay during conventionalisation of the mouse germfree colon
El Aidy S, Derrien M, Merrifield CA et al.
The ISME journal, 2013
- Weaning diet induces sustained metabolic phenotype shift in the pig and influences host response to Bifidobacterium lactis NCC2818
Merrifield CA, Lewis MC, Claus SP et al.
Gut, 2013
- Stability and robustness of human metabolic phenotypes in response to sequential food challenges
Heinzmann SS, Merrifield CA, Rezzi S et al.
Journal of proteome research, 2012
- Early intervention with Bifidobacterium lactis NCC2818 modulates the host-microbe interface independent of the sustained changes induced by the neonatal environment
Lewis MC, Merrifield CA, Berger B et al.
Scientific reports, 2017
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