DandleLION Medical Clinician Spotlight: Emily Hills, MSc, CNT, NTMTC, NIDCAP

Clinician Spotlight: Emily Hills, MSc, CNT, NTMC, NIDCAP

Dandle•LION is proud to partner with expert clinicians to provide the best available education and evidence-based care strategies. We are excited to introduce you to Emily Hills, MSc, CNT, NTMTC, NIDCAP, a Clinical Specialist Neonatal Occupational Therapist at Starlight Neonatal Unit, Barnet Hospital, Royal Free London, NHS Foundation Trust!

Emily leads developmental care, neurobehavioral, neurodevelopmental, and sensory assessment, and interventions— including follow-up after discharge.

Emily is a certified neonatal therapist (CNT). She has completed her MSc in Advanced Neonatal Studies at Southampton University. Emily is NIDCAP certified and lectures on The Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Education (FINE) program in the UK. She is a senior Brazelton trainer and is certified to teach on the Newborn Behavioral Observation (NBO).

Emily is a co-author and co-founder of Sensory Beginnings Ltd and is an Advanced Practitioner in Sensory Integration (SI). Emily has completed Neonatal Touch and Massage certification (NTMC) and has completed the advanced course in The Prechtl General Movement Assessment.

Links & Resources

  • Hills, E., Hynard, L., Deierl, A., Aloysius, A. & Harding, C. (2023). Enhancing therapeutic support for inpatient infants and families by introducing Lullaby Hour to the neonatal unit. Infant, 19(2),
  • Gupta N, Deierl A, Hills E, Banerjee J (2021) Systematic review confirmed the benefits of early skin to skin contact but highlighted lack of studies on very and extremely preterm infants. Acta Paediatrica; 00:1-6
  • Hills E, Harding C (2020) A multidisciplinary approach to the implementation of non-pharmacological strategies to manage infant pain. Infant; 16(2): 78-81.
  • Harding C, Mynard A, Hills E (2017) Identification of premature infant states in relation to introducing oral feeding Journal of Neonatal Nursing 24 (2)