I am an epidemiologist working in electronic health records (EHR) research with a particular interest in maternal health. I hold a BA Hons in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University and an MSc in Epidemiology from LSHTM. My PhD, awarded in 2014, investigated the role of acute infections and inflammation in vascular events. I have many years' experience working with large databases of linked health records from primary and secondary care in the UK (CPRD and HES) and administrative claims data from the US (Medicaid and Medicare). I have published on a range of topics including inflammation and vascular disease, pregnancy, and more recently maternal thyroid disease funded by my UKRI Innovation Fellowship.
Affiliations
Teaching
I have been teaching on face-to-face and distance learning MSc modules since 2009, including STEPH, Statistical Methods in Epidemiology, Basic Epidemiology, and the Introductory Course in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics (ICEMS) short course. I have been a Module Organiser for Basic Epidemiology (2009-2013) and for the DL MSc Epidemiology Project module EPM500 (2017-2020). I currently teach on the DL Statistical Methods in Epidemiology study module EPM202.
Research
My main research focus is on maternal health and methods to optimise the identification of pregnancies in electronic health record databases. Since 2016, I have co-led a joint research collaboration between LSHTM and CPRD to develop an algorithm to identify and date pregnancies and their outcomes within the CPRD primary care database. This work established a Pregnancy Register in CPRD, a novel research tool which has been used in over thirty published studies incuding my recent work on preconception management of hyperthyroidism. I am currently interested in applying the Pregnancy Register, new linkages, and optimal methods to study the uptake and safety of vaccines recommended during pregnancy.