I am a statistician and epidemiologist. My background is in Mathematics and Statistics, with a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics from Bristol University and an MSc in Biometry from Reading University. I joined LSHTM in 1998, after previously working for four years in the agricultural and natural resources sector based in St Lucia and then the UK. My research work at LSHTM has focussed on HIV prevention and tuberculosis studies.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I co-organise the distance-learning Advanced Statistical Methods in Epidemiology module (EPM304). I teach on EPM304 and also on the "intensive" Statistical Methods in Epidemiology module. I am a tutor for both the Epidemiology and Medical Statistics MSc courses, and I supervise projects on these courses as well as on the distance-learning MSc in Epidemiology.
Research
My research has focussed on HIV prevention and tuberculosis studies in sub-Saharan Africa.
During 2012-2019, I worked as a senior statistician, and was a member of the study leadership team, on the HPTN 071 (PopART) community-randomised trial that measured the impact of a combination HIV prevention package including universal testing-and-treatment on HIV incidence in Zambia and South Africa. During 2020-24 my work continued on this study with the INPUTT project, which aimed to answer various questions about HIV prevention with secondary data analyses of the HPTN 071 study data.
During 2016-2021 I worked as joint principal investigator for a study across 3 countries (Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe) on impact evaluation of the DREAMS partnership, which aims to reduce HIV incidence among adolescent girls and young women in various sub-Saharan African countries as well as impact a range of biological, behavioural, and social outcomes. During 2022-2023 I continued my role on this project, as a co-principal investigator for a "DREAMS Year 6" evaluation in two settings in Kenya (rural western Kenya, and two informal settlements in Nairobi). I also worked as a statistician on the Yathu-Yathu study (2018-2022), which was a cluster-randomised study in Zambia of using community hubs combined with incentives (provided through prevention points cards) to improve uptake of sexual and reproductive health services among young people.
I was a senior statistician on the TREATS project (2017-2022), contributing to work on the effect of the PopART intervention on TB prevalence and transmission, and on diagnostic algorithms for tuberculosis that limit the use of culture. I also provided oversight to statistical work on the DIAMA project (2016-2022), which was a study across countries in West, Central and East Africa that aimed to improve diagnosis and treatment monitoring for multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB patients.
I am a co-investigator for the "International Statistics and Epidemiology Partnership" (ISEP), an MRC-funded partnership that brings together medical statisticians across 7 partner institutions (6 institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and LSHTM) with the overall goal of capacity strengthening and creating a supportive community and network among early and mid-career medical statisticians.
I currently co-supervise two PhD students and one DrPH student, and am on the advisory panel for several other PhD students.
I am a member of the WHO Task Force on TB Impact Measurement, for the sub-group working on TB prevalence surveys.