Dr Ross MacDonald

Dr Ross MacDonald
Dr Ross MacDonald
Dr Ross MacDonald

MMath, PhD

Research Fellow

About

Biography

Ross is a research fellow with the Epidemiology Group, Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen. He is currently working on the CAPE (Consortium Against Pain InEqualities) project, aiming to investigate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and chronic pain in later life. He has previously worked as a Research Assistant within the Epidemiology Group and has recently completed a PhD in Epidemiology investigating the role of lifestyle factors on treatment response to biologic therapies in patients with axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis. Before joining the group, Ross received an MMath Mathematics degree from the University of St Andrews, with particular focus on Pure Mathematics and Statistics.

Qualifications

  • MMath Mathematics 
    2016 - University of St Andrews 

    Fast Track

  • PhD Epidemiology 
    2025 - University of Aberdeen 

    PhD thesis titled 'The role of lifestyle factors on response to biologic therapy in axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis using robust missing data methods'

Latest Publications

View My Publications

Research

Research Overview

Ross has conducted research in the epidemiology and treatment of disabling conditions including axial spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and chronic pain.

Research Areas

Applied Health Sciences

Research Specialisms

  • Epidemiology
  • Medical Statistics

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

Ross is currently working as part of the Consortium Against Pain InEquality (CAPE). This study aims to identify causal links between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and chronic pain in later life.

Past Research

Ross has conducted a variety of research in the field of musculoskeletal health. This includes work analysing the effect of lifestyle factors on treatment response to biologic therapies in axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis, the impact of fibromyalgia on treatment outcomes in patients with axial spondyloarthritis, the relationship between fear avoidance beliefs and treatment outcomes in distal upper limb pain, the influence of weather conditions on pain reporting, and the use of routinely collected healthcare data for identifying differences between rural and urban healthcare use.

Collaborations

Ross is part of the CAPE consortium investigating the impact of adverse childhood experiences on chronic pain in later life.

Ross has also been involved with the EuroSpA collaboration, which includes over a dozen registries collecting data on patients with axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis from across Europe.

Publications

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Books and Reports

Contributions to Journals