Dr Azar Alexander-Sefre

Biography

Azar Alexander-Sefre completed her PhD at the University of Aberdeen in November 2025. She holds a BSc in Pharmacology from the University of Manchester and an MSc in Clinical Pharmacology from King’s College London. Alongside her academic work, she has 10 years of experience in the clinical research industry, primarily in clinical trial operations, and has served for 5 years as an active member of an NHS Research Ethics Committee.

Azar’s research focuses on improving trial methodology, with a particular interest in how clinical trials can be designed, conducted, and reported in more inclusive ways for underserved groups. Her PhD explored how intersectionality is understood and applied in clinical trials, the barriers that limit its use, and what is needed to support more inclusive trial design in practice.

As part of this work, Azar developed a suite of practical resources to support trial teams. These include an explainer video, a reflective exercise, and the Intersectionality Action Matrix, which is available through Trial Forge as a practical tool to help teams think beyond single identities and take a more proportionate, context sensitive approach to inclusion.

She is now interested in continuing work that strengthens inclusive trial design in practical and methodologically robust ways, including the development of tools, guidance, and approaches that help trial teams make better decisions from the earliest stages of study planning. Her wider interests include research ethics, recruitment and retention in trials, and improving how inclusion is embedded in routine trial processes.