I completed my BSc in Mathematics and funded MSc in Medical Statistics at the University of Leicester, before starting work at the University of Nottingham as a Medical Statistician. I was later successful in gaining funding for my PhD project and a postdoctoral bridging fellowship from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) – School for Primary Care Research (SPCR). I developed innovative methodology to evaluate the value of adding new risk factors to established risk prediction models, combining the statistical and health economic evaluation of these models to enable decision-makers to identify when adding a new risk factor is cost-effective.

After completing my PhD, I worked for the NIHR Research Design Service where I consulted and advised researchers, clinicians and allied health professionals on their research projects and funding applications. In 2017, I joined the University of Oxford as a Postdoctoral Research in Meta-Research in the Centre for Statistics in Medicine, working in the UK Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) Centre, evaluating the quality of medical research studies. I have since developed my own research portfolio and am working on improving the design, quality, and integrity of future medical research by advancing statistical methodology research and educating the next generation of researchers. My research interests lie in three areas, statistical methodology, applied statistics and meta-research, linked by a focus on prediction modelling for medical research.

I am leading and am involved in several research projects and international collaborations, including creating methodological and sample size guidance for cancer prediction models developed using machine learning (funded by Cancer Research UK), developing reporting guidelines for protocols of prediction modelling studies, working with Oxford’s NHS Blood and Transplant and the newly funded Blood Transfusion Research Unit (BTRU) on using routinely collected data to improve service and patient health outcomes; working with the Department of Oncology on the IDEAL: Artificial Intelligence and Big Data for Early Lung Cancer Diagnosis study; and working with the Royal Marsden and the Institute of Cancer Research on DART: the integration and analysis of data using artificial intelligence.

I teach research design, basic statistics, protocol development, writing for research and critical appraisal to early-career researchers and graduate medical students through the UK EQUATOR Centre and the Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School (OUCAGS). I am a reviewer for many peer-reviewed medical journals (e.g., BMJ Open, Diagnostic and Prognostic Research and BMC Medical Research Methodology) and funding bodies (e.g., NIHR, MRC, Wellcome).

There have been two strong underpinnings my career path so far – medical statistics and teaching. Working as a researcher in medical statistics has provided me with a great opportunity to use my skills in a meaningful way to help the National Health Service and improve patient benefit in many clinical areas. As far back as I can remember, I have also thoroughly enjoyed and gained much satisfaction teaching, helping and supporting others. I am very excited to tutor students at Pembroke College under the Nigel James Junior Research Fellowship in Medical Statistics.