Biography

I joined the Institute of Applied Health Sciences in May 2018 as a Lecturer in Medical Statistics and, since January 2019, I have a honorary contract with the Information Services Division of Public Health Scotland, in the establishment of the Scottish Congenital Anomaly Register (CARDRISS).

Previously I was based at the Institute of Health and Society (IHS), Newcastle University, and had an honorary contract with Public Health England where I collaborated with the National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Disease Registration Service (NCARDRS). I also worked as a statistical advisor for the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals (NuTH), IHS research groups and Newcastle Clinical Trials Unit.

My primary research interests are related with the development and application of statistical methodologies to evaluate treatment effects in personalised medicine (including N-of-1 studies) and rare diseases. I am also interested in the epidemiology of rare diseases and congenital anomalies in particular.

COVID-19 research

Currently I am leading a project, in collaboration with the NHS Grampian ICU team, using a series of N-of-1 studies aiming to understand the individual clinical trajectory of patients with severe COVID-19 that have been admitted to ICU. This project has been funded by Medical Research Scotland.

I am also a co-investigator on a project focusing on addressing physical activity, loneliness, and help-seeking behaviour on elderly individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project is being led by Dr Kathryn Martin and has been funded by Chief Scientist Office (CSO), Scottish Government.

Research Overview

My main research interests are:

• Statistical methods for observational and experimental studies in personalised medicine (including n-of-1 studies) and rare diseases
• Epidemiology of rare diseases and congenital anomalies

Current Research

Congenital anomalies and Rare Diseases:

• Maternal age specific prevalence of gastroschisis in England, Scotland and Wales over 30 years: a register based study
• Interventions that influence epilepsy in mitochondrial disease
• Prevalence and survival of children born with congenital anomalies in Scotland
  

Personalised medicine (N-of-1):

• The individual clinical course of severe COVID-19: a series of n-of-1 studies.
• Determinants of adherence with weight loss and weight maintenance in the context of the Diabetes REmission Clinical Trial (DiRECT)

Other (miscellanneous):

• Understanding Symptom Experiences Fully (USEFULL) study
• Looking after the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: a focus on addressing physical activity, loneliness, and help-seeking behaviour

• I am also a co-investigator in the UKMED88 project (Apr 2019 - Oct 2020): 'Investigating associations of post-graduate examination performance with socio-demographic characteristics, performance at medical school, medical school, SJT and foundation school: a focus on first stage examinations of MRCP, MRCGP and MRCPsych' led by Dr Isobel Cameron.

Funding and Grants

• 2021-2025: Impact of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) on pregnancy and postnatal outcomes of babies affected by Down’s syndrome in Scotland (£110,192 - Medical Research Scotland PhD Studentship and Public Health Scotland). (Principal Supervisor) 
• 2020: Understanding the individual clinical course of severe COVID-19: a series of n-of-1 studies (£11,670 - Medical Research Scotland COVID-19 Research Grant). (PI)
• 2020: Looking after the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: a focus on addressing physical activity, loneliness, and help-seeking behaviour (£48,541 - Scottish Government CSO Rapid Research in Covid-19 programme). (Co-I)
• 2019-2020: The relationship between the UKCAT and overall performance across four UK dental schools - A multi-site study (£5,419 - UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT)). (CI)
• 2019-2020: Does the UKCAT achieve its goal of widening participation to dental education? (£5,419 - UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT)). (CI)

Past:

• 2019-2020: Person-centred care: identifying clusters of multimorbidity in hospitalised patients (£9,749 - NHS Grampian Endowment Research Grants). (Co-I)
• 2010-2014: International PhD scholarship SFRH/BD/70050/2010 (103,000€), co-funded by the Portuguese Government and European Commission
• 2009-2013: National PhD scholarship SFRH/BD/63881/2009 (57,000€), funded by the Portuguese Government

Teaching Responsibilities

• Applied Statistics (PU5017) - 1^st semester (MSc level) - course coordinator and lecturer (2018-)
• Applied Statistics (PU5522) - 2^nd semester (MSc level) - lecturer (2018-)
• CPD intermediate statistics course for staff - lecturer (2018-)
• Statistics course for PhD students - lecturer (2018-)

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

I am part of the College of Life Science and Medicine (CLSM) Ethics Review Board for post-graduate studies (PGT CERB) since 2018 and the IAHS Assessment Panel since 2019.

I am also a personal tutor for eight undergraduates.